UC-NRLF 


GIFT  OF 


PROSPERITY  ™  POLITICS. 


BY 

ALLEN  RIPLEY  FOOTE, 

n 

AUTHOR   OF 
"ECONOMIC  VALUE  OF  ELECTRIC  LIGHT  AND  POWER" 

AND 

DISCUSSION  OF   ECONOMIC   PRINCIPLES   INVOLVED  IN 
"  THE  LAW  OF  INCORPORATED  COMPANIES  OPER- 
ATING UNDER  MUNICIPAL  FRANCHISES." 


I893. 

KENSINGTON    PUBLISHING    COMPANY, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


COPYRIGHTED  1893 

BY  ALLEN  RIPLEY  FOOTE. 

TAKOMA  PARK,  D.  C. 


Is  anything  interfering  with  your  prosperity  ?  Then 
some  one  has  blundered. 

Has  it  ever  occurred  to  you  that  all  the  money  you 
have  lost  by  your  own  and  others*  mistakes;  that  all 
the  time  used  in  correcting  your  own  and  others'  mis- 
takes, if  the  mistakes  had  not  been  made,  could  have 
been  used  in  the  " pursuit  of  happiness?"  Think  ot 
this  !  Does  it  not  make  clear  to  you  the  fact  that  mis- 
takes are  the  fruitful  source  of  all  troubles  and  the  real 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  prosperity  and  happiness  ? 

Money  and  time  lost  by  mistakes  is  the  cost  of  Edu- 
cation through  Experience.  This  is  the  most  uneco- 
nomic way  of  acquiring  an  Education.  Education  ac- 
quired through  reason  is  much  less  expensive  and  far 
more  satisfactory  and  helpful.  Money  spent  for  Edit- 
cation  through  reason  is  put  to  its  highest  economic 
use, 

When  you  correct  a  mistake,  you  furnish  proof  that 
you  are  wiser  than  when  you  made  it.  Growth  in  intel- 
ligence is  evidenced  by  increased  capacity  for  useful 
work ;  greater  precision  in  action  ;  and  diminution  of 
of  errors  in  judgment.  The  acquisition  of  intelligence 
is  life  for  the  wise,  and  death  for  fools. 

Is  anything  interfering  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
whole  people  ?  Then  some  one  has  blundered. 

I  have  undertaken  to  show  you  in  what  form  these 
blunders  have  been  made,  why  they  have  been  made, 
and  by  whom.  I  have  also  undertaken  to  indicate  in 
what  form  these  blunders  may  be  corrected,  why  they 


484590 


should  be  corrected,  and  by  whom  they  must  be  cor- 
rected. The  correct  settlement  of  these  questions  is 
imperatively  demanded  as  a  condition  precedent  to  a 
return  of  prosperity  for  yourself  and  for  the  whole 
people. 

It  is  your  duty  first  carefully  to  consider  each  subject 
on  its  individual  merits  and  to  correct  your  own  views 
regarding  it,  and  then,  as  you  are  suffering  from  the 
mistakes  of  others  as  well  as  from  your  own,  to  lose  no 
time  nor  spare  any  effort  in  insisting  that  others  shall 
correct  their  mistakes  also.  ,  Show  them  where  they 
have  made  an  error  and,  if  they  are  reasonable  beings, 
they  will  be  glad  to  make  the  necessary  correction  and 
to  thank  you  for  your  service. 

You  will  find  that  you  cannot  approve  of  some  of  the 
measures  I  advocate  without  being  inconsistent  with 
your  past  political  record.  Neither  can  you  correct  a 
mistake  without  being  inconsistent  with  what  you  have 
done.  Will  you  for  this  reason  refuse  to  correct  a  mis- 
take ?  If  1  cannot  show  you  wherein  you  should  change 
your  views,  I  shall  not  succeed  in  being  helplul  to  you. 
If  I  do  succeed  in  this,  you  must  not  let  a  false  idea 
about  being  consistent  deprive  you  of  the  benefit  to  be 
derived  from  correcting  a  mistake. 

Consistency  is  the  jailor  of  small  minds.  It  kills 
weak  ones. 

I  am  not  interested  in  your  past  political  record. 
The  vital  consideration  is,  what  action  are  you  ready  to 
take  to-day  ?  I  present  certain  measures  and  explain 
why  I  think  their  adoption  will  correct  the  errors  of  the 
past  and  will  induce  a  return  of  prosperity  for  yourself 
and  for  the  whole  people.  Holding  these  views  as  I  do, 
it  is  my  duty  to  make  you  acquainted  with  them.  Hav- 
ing done  this,  it  is  now  your  duty  either  to  adopt  them 
or  to  disprove  the  correctness  ol  my  conclusions.  More 


than  this,  it  is  your  duty,  if  you  cannot  adopt  all  of 
these  measures,  to  adopt  such  as  you  can  approve  and 
to  work  for  their  adoption  by  others,  thus  dealing  with 
each  question  absolutely  upon  its  own  merits.  In  this 
way  we  shall  co-operate  where  we  can  and  disagree 
where  we  must.  If  we  now  ignore  the  well-being  of 
the  whole  people  for  the  sake  of  a  supposed  party  ad- 
vantage, we  shall  assume  that  the  people  are  very 
stupid  and  very  slow  to  anger.  This  will  be  an  error. 
I  think  the  people  know  when  they  have  had  enough  of 
such  nonsense  ;  that  they  are  already  satiated  with  suf- 
fering caused  by  the  criminal  disregard  for  their  well- 
being  that  has  been  shown  by  politicians  in  the  past,  in 
their  mad  endeavor  to  maintain  party  lines,  or  to  defeat 
or  to  embarrass  opponents. 

If  you  believe  any  measure  that  I  advocate  to  be  well 
calculated  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, then,  as  an  honest  and  a  loyal  citizen,  it  is  your 
duty  to  work  with  all  the  energy  you  can  command,  to 
secure  its  enactment.  It  is  your  duty  to  do  this,  no 
matter  how  your  former  views  and  actions  may  align 
themselves  with  the  measure.  By  doing  this,  we  shall 
gain  time  for  the  further  discussion  of  those  measures 
on  which  we  do  not  agree.  It  is  probable,  when  we 
honestly  examine  our  reasons  for  disagreeing  upon  any 
single  measure  that  we  can  find  a  basis  for  mutual 
agreement  regarding  it. 

The  responsibility  of  action  is  yours.  If  the  measures 
herein  advocated  are  well  calculated  to  induce  a  return 
of  prosperity  for  the  whole  people,  then  you  must 
admit  that  your  earnest  efforts  to  secure  their  enact- 
mant  is  the  price  of  your  own  prosperity. 

ALLEN  R.  FOOTE. 
Takoma  Park,  D.  C.,  July  /,  1893. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  Page. 

I.  THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION 9 

II.  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT 26 

III.  REPEAL  OF   THE    NATIONAL  TAX   ON  STATE   BANK 

CURRENCY 45 

IV.  REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION 71 

V.  REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION 97 

VI.  REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION 137 

VII.  CONCLUSIONS 151 


GOLD  STANDARD. 


GOLD    VALUE 

GOLD    VALUE. 

SILVER  DOLLAR. 

of  the  bullion 

Lowest  Price 

Price  of  Wheat. 

Years. 

in  a  Coined 

Quoted  for 

Gold  Value 

Silver  Dollar. 

Wheat. 

of  the 

Silver  Bullion. 

1873 

$1.004    * 

$0.89    f 

$    0.8938! 

1874 

.988 

.815 

.8052 

1875 

.964 

.8325 

.8026 

1876 

.894 

•83 

•742 

1877 

.929 

1.015 

•943 

1878 

.891 

•77 

.6861     • 

I879 

.868 

.8163 

.7088 

1880 

.886 

.865 

.7664 

1881 

.881 

•9537 

.8402 

1882 

.878 

.9112  . 

.8000 

1883 

.858 

.90 

.7712 

1884 

.861 

•695 

.5984 

1885 

.823 

•7337 

.6038 

1886 

.769 

•6937 

•  -5335 

1887 

.758 

.6663 

•5°5i 

1888 

.727 

.7112 

-5*70 

1889 

.724 

•755 

-.5466 

1890 

.809 

•7425 

.6007 

1891 

.764 

•85 

.6494 

1892 

.674 

.6912 

•4659 

*  Report  —  Director  of  the  mint,  1893,  page  30. 
f  Prices  of  wheat  —  Chicago  market,  World  Almanac, 

1893,  page  133. 

f  Calculated,  silver  dollar  price  of  wheat  at  the  gold 
value  of  the  bullion  in  the  coined  silver  dollar. 


PROSPERITY  AND   POLITICS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION. 


"  Nothing  paralyzes  business  so  much  as  uncertainty 
and  the  general  distrust  and  contraction  of  credits 
growing  out  of  it.  The  faihires  of  the  past  few  days 
throughout  the  country,  the  universal  difficulty  experi- 
enced by  merchants  in  renewing  their  notes  and  the 
presence  of  out  of  town  bankers  in  this  city  trying  to 
rediscount  their  paper  at  abnormally  high  rates  bear 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  truth  of  this." 

— Editorial,  New  York  Herald. 

The  present  economic  condition  of  industry  and  com- 
merce is  one  of  extreme  uncertainty.  Such  a  situation 
is,  of  all  others,  the  most  difficult  to  deal  with  and  relieve 
when  the  uncertainty  is  the  outgrowth  of  ill-considered, 
misinformed,  or  corrupt  political  action.  When  economic 


io  PROSFEFITY  AND  POLITICS. 


conditions  are  disturbed  by  a  sudden  calamity,  such  as 
the  great  fire  at  Chicago,  or  the  earthquake  at  Charles- 
ton, the  disturbance  is  of  short  duration,  the  full  extent 
of  the  damage  is  soon  ascertained,  and  the  natural  recoil 
from  the  shock  gives  superabundant  courage  and  energy 
to  those  who  are  thus  suddenly  called  upon  to  rebuild 
their  fortunes.  It  is  not  so  when  economic  conditions 
are  disturbed  by  political  action  that  does  not  align  itself 
in  accord  with  the  requirements  of  sound  economic  laws. 
Many  years  elapse  before  a  wrong  course  of  economic 
political  action,  which  appears  to  run  almost  parallel 
with  the  true  direction  at  the  parting  of  the  ways, 
develops  evils  of  sufficient  energy  to  disturb  an  otherwise 
prosperous  nation.  A  people  whose  energies  are  ab- 
sorbed in  the  pursuit  of  their  individual  affairs  cannot 
be  induced  to  make  a  serious  investigation  of  the  causes 
of  such  evils  until  they  effectually  undermine  the  con- 
ditions of  their  prosperity. 

A  practical  lesson,  such  as  every  person  in  this  country 
is  now  suffering  from,  is  needed  to  cause  the  average 
citizen  to  know  that  something  is  going  wrong  and  to 
realize  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  compel  him  to  be  in  earnest 
about  wanting  it  made  right  and  in  the  shortest  possible 
time.  Now,  every  man  who  is  experiencing  difficulty  in 
his  business,  every  wage-worker  whose  hopes  for  better- 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION.  u 

ing  his  condition  have  changed  into  fear  of  a  reduction 
of  wages  or  of  a  loss  of  employment  by  the  stoppage  or 
cutting  down  of  the  industry  in  which  he  is  employed, 
knows  he  is  being  hurt.  But  few  of  them,  however,  can 
correctly  diagnose  the  cause  of  the  trouble  and  fewer 
still  can  clearly  prescribe  a  certain  remedy.  Any  man 
can  tell  when  he  has  a  fever.  How  many  can  tell  why 
they  have  fever  and  exactly  how  to  relieve  themselves 
of  it?  Those  who  can  do  this  seldom  have  fevers. 

Industrial  disturbances  caused  by  a  failure  to  guide 
business  procedure  and  political  action  in  accordance 
with  the  requirements  of  sound  economic  laws  are  always 
preventable,  and  being  preventable  they  are  always 
curable.  They  are  not  generated  in  any  destruction  of 
the  economic  value  of  tangible  property.  Uncertainty, 
distrust,  contraction  of  credit  are  disturbances  generated 
by  the  destruction  of  confidence  in  the  soundness  of  a 
chosen  course  of  action.  This  is  the  cause  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  now  beset  the  prosperity  of  all  classes  of 
citizens.  There  is  nothing  in  the  situation  that  is  start- 
ling or  even  new  to  those  most  capable  to  judge  of  it. 
The  conditions  that  exist  to-day  were  all  depicted  with 
scientific  accuracy  as  steps  have  been  successively  taken 
in  a  wrong  direction, 

The  national  taxation  of  State  Bank  currency: 


12  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

The  reissue  of  legal-tender  notes  after  the  resumption 
of  gold  payments : 

The  enactment  of  the  Bland  Silver  Law: 

The  enactment  of  the  Sherman  Silver  Law : 

The  collection  of  import  duties  without  regard  to 
economic  considerations : 

The  distribution  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  of 
the  people's  money  on  the  false  pretence  of  rewarding 
the  Nation's  defenders,  when  the  true  reason  was  to  dis- 
tribute the  surplus  and .  to  make  an  enormous  revenue 
necessary  so  that,  whether  the  tariff  is  laid  for  "protec- 
tion "  or  for  "revenue  only,"  it  will  of  necessity  be  the 
same  thing: 

The  profession  of  a  desire  for  legislative  regulation 
of  the  public  service  while  practicing  the  studied  reten- 
tion of  all  the  patronage  possible  with  which  to  reward 
party  workers : 

All  of  these  courses  of  political  action  are  departures 
from  the  true  direction,  plainly  indicated  by  the  require- 
ments of  sound  economic  law,  and,  as  a  result,  have  as 
surely  led  to  distrust,  uncertainty,  and  contraction  of 
credit,  as  night  follows  day. 

Every  wrong  step  taken  has  been  known  to  be  wrong 
to  able  men  in  all  the  various  avocations  of  life,  but  they 
have  chosen  to  keep  themselves  deeply  engaged  with 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION.  13 

their  own  affairs  and  have  left  the  economic  education 
of  the  people  to  professional  politicians  whose  reward 
was  power  and  office.  Every  wrong  step  has  been  taken 
with  the  full  knowledge  of  political  leaders  that  it  was 
wrong.  They  have  chosen  to  gain  and  to  regain  power 
at  the  price  of  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  In  this 
way  it  has  come  to  be  true  that  political  action  has  been 
formulated  on  the  lines  of  popular  prejudices  and  weak- 
nesses induced  by  ignorance  of  sound  economic  laws. 
The  people  have  not  been  properly  educated.  That 
generic  trait  in  human  nature — a  desire  to  gain  an  ad- 
vantage without  having  a  clear  perception  of,  or  just  re- 
gard for,  the  effect  that  the  means  by  which  it  is  obtained 
may  have  upon  the  rights  of  others — has  been  played 
upon.  Politicians  have  demanded  support  from  prosper- 
ous, industrious  citizens,  because  they  stood  for  sound 
money  and  "  the  best  currency  in  the  world,"  and  yet, 
by  their  votes  the  Bland  silver  coinage  bill  became  a  law ; 
the  Sherman  silver  purchase  bill  became  a  law ;  the  sil- 
ver States  were  admitted  into  the  Union,  thus  securing 
to  the  advocates  of  free  coinage  of  silver  an  influence 
and  voting  power  wholly  out  of  proportion  to  their  popu- 
lation or  industrial  importance.  Were  these  things  done 
solely  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the  greatest  degree  of 
prosperity,  or  solely  to  gain  and  to  perpetuate  political 
power? 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


Politicians  have  treated  the  suggestion  that  the 
National  tax  on  State  Bank  currency  should  be  re- 
pealed, as  financial  heresy  of  the  most  virulent  type,  one 
that  justified  labelling  its  proposer  as  a  lunatic.  Instead 
of  considerately  investigating  the  cause  of  the  wide- 
spread and  urgent  demand  of  the  South  and  West,  be- 
cause it  was  not  wisely  stated,  that  currency  contraction 
'  should  cease,  and  that  the  country  should  be  supplied 
with  an  elastic  and  an  abundant  currency,  and  attempt- 
ing to  satisfy  that  just  demand  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  requirements  of  sound  economic  principles,  politicians 
have  chosen  to  disregard  the  conditions  that  would  in- 
evitably induce  the  greatest  degree  of  prosperity,  by 
failing  manfully  to  insist  upon  legislation  that  would 
establish  such  conditions,  and  have  gained  or  have  per- 
petuated their  lease  of  power,  by  a  series  of  compromises 
with  unsound  economic  currency  measures.  They  have 
posed  as  friends  of  the  people  but  have  failed  to  make 
good  their  claim  by  that  highest  exhibition  of  true  friend- 
ship, the  pointing  out  of  a  correct  course,  and  a  manly 
refusal  to  assist  in  pursuing  any  other.  They  have  been 
content  to  stop  all  action  on  currency  measures  for  the 
relief  of  the  people  by  the  broad  statement,  "our  national 
banking  system  is  the  best  in  the  world  ;  any  one  who 
proposes  to  supersede  that  in  any  way  will  plunge  the 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION.  15 

country  into  an  industrial  panic  that  will  destroy  pros- 
perity." In  the  light  of  events  now  occuring,  it  is  perti- 
nent to  ask  whether  this  position,  which  has  been  so 
stubbornly  adhered  to  for  so  long  a  time,  has  been  main- 
tained for  the  sake  of  the  true  intesests  of  the  people  or 
to  gain  and  to  perpetuate  political  power? 

The  desire  to  gain  and  to  hold  power  by  an  endeavor 
to  secure  an  advantage  for  manufacturers,  large  em- 
ployers of  labor,  the  owners  of  corporate  capital  located 
in  the  centers  of  business  activity,  lead  to  the  continu- 
ation of  war  taxes  in  the  form  of  import  duties.  The 
revenues  thus  collected  created  an  enormous  surplus. 
Instead  of  paying  off  the  national  debt  with  that  surplus 
and  thus  relieving  the  people  from  a  continuing  burden, 
a  course  of  action  that  might  have  given  a  color  of  justi- 
fication for  the  high  tariff,  a  very  different  line  of  pro- 
cedure was  followed.  The  debt  was  not  paid  because 
that  would  destroy  the  foundation  of  the  National  Banking 
system.  The  surplus  was  distributed,  largely  in  pensions, 
because  in  that  way  many  voters  would  receive  a  quar- 
'  terly  reminder  that  the  politicians  in  power  were  their 
friends.  This  was  a  false  pretence.  Had  there  been  no 
surplus,  and  no  desire  to  continue  the  collection  of  high 
import  duties,  the  appalling  stream  of  corrupt  pension 
payments  would  never  have  poured  its  debasing  torrents 


1 6  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

into  the  pockets  of  men  whose  tmtempted  instincts  are 
honest.  Industry  bolstered  up  by  such  unnatural  con- 
ditions can  not  be  continuously  prosperous.  Destruction 
must  come  through  the  inevitable  results  of  a  false  course 
of  action.  This  being  a  scientific  truth,  is  it  not  plain 
that  it  was  not  a  sincere  and  well  informed  regard  for 
the  welfare  of  the  people,  which  induced  politicians  to 
enact  tariff  legislation  in  the  form  they  did  ?  It  was  a 
desire  to  gain  and  to  perpetuate  power  by  magnifying 
the  advantages  of  the  adopted  course,  magnifying  the 
evils  that  would  follow  the  adoption  of  a  different  course, 
and  belittling  the  burdens  of  which  the  people  complained. 
It  was  a  deliberate  bid  for  power  at  the  expense  of  pros- 
perity. 

To  rightly  honor  the  defenders  of  one's  country  is  the 
distinguishing  mark  of  loyal  citizenship.  Such  a  desire 
is  most  easily  imposed  upon  by  designing  politicians 
who  have  the  ear  of  a  generous  people.  There  being 
other  and  far  more  potent  reasons  for  desiring  to  distrib- 
ute the  surplus,  but  none  so  sure  of  gaining  a  popular 
response,  it  was  but  a  natural  course  for  politicians  to 
conceal  the  true  reason  and  avow  the  duty  of  dealing 
liberally  with  old  soldiers.  Opening  the  doors  of  the 
Treasury  in  this  direction  gave  an  unlimited  sweep  to 
the  process  of  creating  demands  for  which  public  money 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SnuA'imx. 


could,  be  used.  Taxation  can  not  be  decreased  on  the 
lines  now  being  pursued,  the  payment  of  the  national 
debt  must  be  arrested,  and,  it  may  be,  backward  steps 
will  have  to  be  taken  by  the  issue  of  more  bonds,  in 
order  to  pay  one  hundred  millions  annually  on  pension 
claims  that  have  no  foundation  in  justice.  Was  the 
pension  legislation  which  makes  this  necessary,  enacted 
in  the  interest  of  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  or  in  the 
hope  that  it  might  perpetuate  the  political  power  of 
those  who  enacted  it  ? 

Vain  would  be  the  search  through  the  platforms  of  polit- 
ical parties  for  a  clearly  stated  intention  to  degrade  or 
avoid  the  spirit  of  the  Civil  Service  laws  as  the)-  now 
stand,  or  the  avowal  of  a  fixed  purpose  to  oppose  an  in- 
crease of  their  scope  or  to  more  firmly  entrench  their 
application.  A  party  that  has  held  control  of  the  govern- 
ment for  over  thirty  years  could  easily  have  so  arranged 
the  Civil  Service  laws  that,  when  the  time  came  for  it  to 
give  way  to  an  opposition,  none  of  the  faithful  public 
servants  in  office  could  have  been  disturbed  in  their  posi- 
tions.  Such  a  course  is  as  manifestly  in  the  interest  of 
an  economic  and  intelligent  service,  as  is  the  practice  of 
retaining  employees  in  industrial  undertakings.  All 
men  in  touch  with  large  business  interests  know  how 
demoralized  a  service  would  become  if  all  the  employees 


1 8  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

of  great  corporations  should  see  a  signal  for  them  to 
resign  their  places  and  occupation  in  every  change  of  a 
directory,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  having  served 
under  a  different  administration.  The  more  stable  and 
intelligent  the  Civil  Service  becomes,  the  better  it  will  be 
for  the  welfare  of  the  country.  The  giving  of  public 
employment  as  rewards  for  political  services,  substitutes 
loyalty  to  party  for  loyalty  to  country,  and  generates 
every  tendency  that  contributes  to  the  substitution  of 
mediocrity  for  excellence.  Why  have  such  changes 
been  continued  if  it  was  not  to  enable  politicians  to  pay 
their  political  debts?  Has  this  course  been  in  the  inter- 
est of  prosperity  or  of  politicians? 

A  striking  peculiarity  of  the  present  economic  and 
political  situation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  politicians 
who  until  now  have  been  out  of  power,  are  guilty  of 
conduct  identical  in  character  with  that  which  has  been 
the  besetting  sin  of  those  that  have  held  power  so  long. 
In  their  efforts  to  gain  power  they  have  invariably  chosen 
lines  of  action  that  were  thought  to  be  politically  expedi- 
ent instead  of  basing  opposition  on  clearly  defined  and 
sound  economic  principles.  Votes  they  wanted,  and  to 
get  votes  they  have  catered  to  the  prejudices,  the  weak- 
nesses, and  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  instead  of  sin- 
cerely entering  upon  a  campaign  of  education  braced  at 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION.  19 

every  point  by  economic  principles  indisputably  sound. 
When  out  of  power  they  dared  not  antagonize  the  great 
vote  winning  measures,  but  sought  to  divide  with  their 
opponents  the  ignoble  credit  of  enacting  them,  just  as 
their  opponents  sought  to  neutralize  any  prestige  the  op- 
position might  gain  from  passing  the  insane  silver  pur- 
chase bill  and  the  infamous  Chinese  exclusion  bill  through 
the  House,  by  enacting  them  in  the  Senate,  and  immedi- 
ately affixing  to  them  the  signature  of  executive  approv- 
al, thus  making  them  laws.  The  result  of  such  an 
opposition  is  a  mixed  multitude  of  ideas,  sophistries  and 
predjudices,  but  no  clearly  defined  national  policy,  gen- 
erated by  sound  and  widely  accepted  economic  principles, 
advocated  solely  for  the  purpose  of  so  readjusting  legis- 
lative conditions  as  to  induce  the  greatest  degree  of 
prosperity  for  the  whole  people.  Each  Congressional 
candidate  has  given  prominence  to  the  issue  on  which 
he  could  most  surely  win  in  his  own  district.  He  has 
explained  that,  and  all  other  issues,  in  the  way  that 
would  secure  him  the  most  votes.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Presidential  candidate,  by  a  courage  never  before  excell- 
ed, stood  manfully  by  economic  principles,  known  to  be 
in  direct  conflict  with  those  held  by  a  majority  of  his 
party,  and  by  so  doing,  so  inspired  the  people's  confi- 
dence in  him  that  he  won  his  election  by  an  unusual 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


,  majority.  The  anomaly  of  this  method  of  opposition 
was  quickly  shown  by  the  fact  that,  while  the  country 
demanded  immediate  relief  from  unsound  economic 
legislation,  on  no  issue  is  there  a  sufficiently  clear  agree- 
ment among  the  opposition  to  secure  for  it  a  reliable 
majority.  This  fact  has  prevented  the  incoming  admin- 
istration from  at  once  calling  an  extra  session  of  Congress 
and  entering  upon  the  great  reforms  with  the  execution 
of  which  it  has  been  intrusted.  It  is  this  condition  of 
incoherent  opposition  that  engenders  such  wide  spread 
uncertainty.  Opposition  is  not  construction.  A  child 
may  destroy  the  page  upon  which  a  law  is  written,  but 
he  who  repeals  or  revises  a  law  must  know  that  the 
change  will  better  conserve  the  public  good,  or  his  term 
of  power  will  result  in  acts  of  unwisdom.  For  strong,  true 
men  the  present  is  an  opportunity  of  unusual  importance 
and  value. 

A  generation  has  passed  since  economic  and  political 
conditions  in  this  country  have  afforded  an  opportunity 
for  level-headed  leaders  comparable  with  the  present. 

The  last  Presidential  election  placed  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Government  in  the  control  of  an  opposition. 
Not  a  single  proposal  at  issue  in  the  last  campaign  can 
be  selected,  for  which  it  can  be  shown  that  a  majority 
vote  was  cast.  Opposition  proposals  that  defeated  can- 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION. 


dictates  in  one  section  elected  them  in  others.  An  aggre- 
gation of  successes  brought  an  opposition  into  power,  but 
it  is  an  opposition  that  is  neutralized  for  effective  work 
by  the  entire  lack  of  homogeneous  agreement  within 
itself  on  any  one  of  the  propositions  upon  which  it  was 
elected  and  must  act. 

This  condition  is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact  that 
every  urgent  demand  for  legislative  action  is  a  demand 
for  the  repeal  or  revision  of  existing  laws,  and  yet,  with- 
out a  national  agreement  as  to  the  exact  character,  scope 
or  limitation  of  the  action  to  be  taken. 

(i).  Repeal  the  silver  purchase  law. 

(2).  Repeal  the  national  tax  on  State  Bank  circulation. 

(3).   Revise — in  the  direction  of  repeal — the  tariff  laws. 

(4).  Revise — again  in  the  direction  of  repeal — the  pen- 
sion laws. 

(5).  Revise— in  the  direction  of  extension— the  Civil 
Service  laws. 

Here  are  five  fundamental  proposals  of  public  policy 
demanding  action,  all  of  which,  except  one,  call  for  re- 
peals, none  of  which,  so  far  as  at  present  known,  can 
command  a  clear  majority  in  the  Fifty-Third  Congress 
for  any  proposed  change  that  has  been  suggested  by  any 
one  in  or  out  of  political  life. 

The  election  of  a  Congress  on  an  issue  of  repeal,  usu- 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


ally  centers  opposition  around  a  definite  proposal  regard- 
ing at  least  one  leading  question,  thus  securing  a  united 
working  majority  by  means  of  which  it  can  proceed  to 
inaugurate  its  policy  of  repeal,  and  under  cover  of  which 
it  can  develop  other  measures  to  a  basic  line  of  agree- 
ment and  then  enact  them.  The  peculiar  feature  of  the 
Fifty-Third  Congress  is  found  in  the  fact  that,  while  op- 
position in  general  terms  to  what  has  been  done  is  in  a 
majority,  opposition  to  any  single  measure,  in  the  form 
of  a  definite  proposed  change  is  not  in  the  majority,  in  a 
form  to  permit  such  majority  to  demand,  in  clear  and 
unmistakable  terms,  exactly  what  measure  of  repeal 
shall  be  enacted,  and,  of  equal  importance,  what  shall  be 
the  law  when  the  repeal  has  been  affected.  This  con- 
dition renders  leadership  by  party  names,  impossible. 
No  Senator  or  Representative  can  marshal  a  majority 
as  a  Republican,  a  Democrat,  or  a  Populist,  for  any 
sound  proposal  pertaining  to  either  of  the  five  measures 
specified.  The  Senator  or  Representative  who  secures 
a  majority  for  any  measure  he  may  favor  pertaining  to 
these  questions,  if  his  proposal  is  sufficiently  drastic  to 
be  of  any  public  benefit,  must  make  up  his  majority  by 
drawing  support  from  all  political  parties. 

These  are  conditions  that  will  test  most  severely  the 
ability,  honesty  and  patriotism  of  Senators  and  Repre- 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION.  23 


sentatives,  not  only  of  those  who,  by  force  of  individu- 
ality must  lead,  but  of  those  who  never  lead,  their  func- 
tion being  to  support  the  lead  of  others.  These  condi- 
tions are  favorable  to  individual  and  patriotic,  as  distin- 
guished from  caucus  and  partisan  action.  If  strong  men 
really  know  what  action  will  most  surely  promote  the 
public  welfare,  they  now  have  an  opportunity  to  carry 
their  opinions  into  practice.  To  do  this  is  their  patriotic 
duty.  Now  is  presented  an  opportunity  for  doing  it 
without  being  hampered  too  closely  by  party  creeds.  ^^J 
Under  these  conditions,  strong  men  will  advocate 
measures  based  on  fundamental  principles  that  admit  of 
no  compromise;  weak  ones  will  want  to  sugar-coat 
every  measure  and  will  endeavor  to  carry  out  a  reform 
or  make  progress  without  hurting  any  one.  This  cannot 
be  done.  Civilization  has  claimed  its  victims  at  every 
step.  The  railroad  hurt  the  stage  coach ;  the  steamship 
the  sailing  vessel ;  the  mechanical  hoist  the  hod  carrier ; 
government  by  the  people  the  business  of  royal  families. 
The  unequalified  adoption  of  a  single  standard  of  gold 
will  not  please  owners  of  silver  mines.  The  repeal  of 
the  national  tax  on  State  Bank  currency  will  not  please 
the  advocates  of  a  centralized  currency.  The  affirmation 
^i.  free  trade  as  a  principle,  and  of  protection  as  a  policy + 
and  the  adjustment  of  tariff  legislation  to  give  expression 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


to  such  an  affirmation,  will  not  please  those  who  favor 
extreme  measures  in  either  direction.  The  changing  of 
condition  which  make  claimants  eligible  for  pensions, 
will  not  please  those  who  may  have  their  certificates  can- 
celled or  their  claims  disallowed.  The  extension  of 
Civil  Service  laws  "will  not  please  those  who  serve  party 
for  patronage. 

A  compromise  means  future  disaster,  on  any  one  of 
these  measures,  as  surely  as  the  present  monetary  diffi- 
culty is  the  logical  result  of  the  compromises  effected  by 
past  legislation.  Fear  of  hurting  or  of  displeasing  some- 
one, will  as  surely  result  in  sacrificing  the  public  good  for 
the  sake  of  political  power,  as  it  is  true  that  such  a  result 
has  always  flowed  from  such  action. 

An  opportunity,  such  as  is'  now  presented,  seldom 
offers.  It  is  an  opportunity  of  that  peculiar  type  which 
compels  men  to  prove  themselves  statesmen  or  submit  to 
rank  as  politicians.  Legislative  conditions  now  call  for 
the  removal  of  obstructions  to  progress,  in  a  deeper  and 
far  more  serious  sense  than  that  recently  so  happily  car- 
icatured by  "Judge.''''  It  is  far  more  than  simply  to  de- 
stroy. It  is  so  to  destroy,  as  to'  preserve  all  good  material, 
and  to  render  future  building  easy  and  substantial.  It 
must  be  the  destruction  of  growth ;  the  growth  of  intelli- 
gence and  honesty,  discarding  an  inferior  for  a  higher 


THE  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  SITUATION.  25 

form  of  life.  Those  who  simply  destroy  will  soon  dis- 
appear from  public  view.  The  people  have  no  use  for 
destroyers ;  they  want  level-headed  leaders  who  under- 
stand sound  economic  laws  and  will  construct  legislation 
in  accordance  with  such  requirements  as  a  stable  basis 
upon  which  they  can  establish  prosperity.  In  this  way 
only  can  the  evils  from  which  the  people  now  suffer  be 
permanently  cured,  and  a  recurrence  of  similar  evils  be 
prevented. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT. 

The  most  serious  present  obstruction  to  prosperity  is 
the  Silver  purchase  law.  Its  repeal  is  the  first  item  in  the 
programme  to  induce  a  return  of  prosperity.  That  such 
action  may  be  easily  obtained  is  made  clear  by  the  follow- 
ing analysis  of  the  forces  which  secured  the  enactment  of 
the  law : — 

i  st.  The  silver  men  are  the  owners  of  silver  mines  and 
the  representatives  in  Congress  of  the  silver  States.  In 
the  House  of  Representatives  their  votes  are  such  a  small 
proportion  of  the  whole  number,  they  are  insufficient  to 
seriously  interfere  with  its  business  procedure.  In  the 
Senate,  on  account  of  the  peculiar  construction  of  that 
body,  their  votes  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tions, industries,  commerce,  or  financial  interests  they 
represent.  Silver  men  willingly  use  their  positions  as 
members  of  a  legislative  body  to  openly  vote  for  meas- 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT. 


27 


ures  in  which  they  have  a  direct,  personal,  and  finan- 
cial interest,  an  interest  which  would  disbar  them  from 
acting  as  judge  or  jury  in  any  civilized  country,  to  try 
cases  arising  under  laws  which,  by  their  votes,  they  seek 
to  enact ;  an  interest  which  openly  bribes  them  to  vote 
for  silver  measures.  Fortunately,  when  the  silver  men 
are  compelled  to  stand  grouped  by  themselves  in  their 
advocacy  of  silver  measures,  they  will  find  themselves  in 
a  hopeless  minority.  The  silver  Bugaboo  once  killed 
will  never  again  menace  the  prosperity  of  the  country. 

2nd.  All  the  power  silver  questions  have  ever  had  to 
retard  or  threaten  prosperity  has  been,  and  is  now,  de- 
rived from  currency  men,  those  who  seek  to  secure  an  au- 
tomatically elastic  currency.  These  currency  men,  broad- 
1  ly  speaking,  represent  the  West  and  the  South ;  their  num- 
bers are  sufficient  to  give  them  power  both  in  the  House 
and  in  the  Senate.  By  combining  with  the  silver  men, 
they  have  been  able  to  force  injurious  compromises  upon 
antagonistic  administrations  on  every  great  issue  invol- 
ing  currency  legislation.  These  steps  may  be  briefly 
stated:— 

(a)  Reissue  of  legal  tender  notes  after  the  resumption 
of  specie  payment. 

(b)  Bland  silver  coinage  act. 

(c)  Sherman  silver  purchase  act. 


28  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


Had  there  never  been  any  factor  involved  in  these 
silver  measures  except  the  one  question  of  bi-metalism, 
the  re-adoption  of  silver  as  a  money  metal  and  the  main- 
taining of  silver  on  a  parity  with  gold,  the  above  named 
measures  would  never  have  reached  a  third  reading 
in  either  the  House  or  the  Senate.  All  currency  men 
who  have  favored  silver  legislation  as  a  means  of  secur- 
ing more  currency  will  soon  see  their  mistake,  and  will 
separate  themselves  from  the  silver  men,  in  order  that 
they  may  unite  with  those  who  favor  a  sound  currency 
for  the  enactment  of  measures  that .  will  satisfy  such 
demands.  When  this  is  done,  the  silver  men  will  stand 
by  themselves  in  their  numerical  weakness,  where  the 
whole  people  can  see  them  in  their  true  characters,  a 
small  clique  who  have,  to  further  their  own  selfish  inter- 
ests, used  those  who  desire  an  automatically  elastic  cur- 
rency, regardless  of  consequences  to  their  allies,  and  the 
results  to  prosperity.  When  currency  men  see  the  mis- 
takes which  they  have  been  deluded  into  making  by  the 
plausible  arguments  and  misinformation  industriously 
disseminated  by  owners  of  silver  mines  and  those  who, 
by  delusion  or  purchase,  have  been  induced  to  work  with 
them,  the  opposition  to  silver  measures  by  currency  men 
will  be  as  energetic  for  the  future,  as  their  support  of 
such  measures  has  been  loyal  in  the  past. 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT.  29 


.  Currency  men  have  not  as  much  interest  in  keeping  up 
the  price  of  silver  to  a  point  at  which  it  will  be  profitable 
to  work  mines  poorest  in  paying  ores  and  least  advanced 
in  mechanical  equipment  for  operation,  as  they  have  in 
keeping  up  the  price  of  wheat  to  a  point  at  which  its  pro- 
duction will  be  profitable  on  the  most  sterile  farms,  or 
where  the  land  is  tilled  with  forked  sticks  for  ploughs, 
the  harvests  gathered  with  sickles,  and  the  threshing 
done  with  flails.  If  producers  of  wheat  should  combine 
and  demand  that  the  Government  should  by  purchase, 
or  by  special  use,  engage  to  make  a  market  for  wheat, 
with  the  view  of  making  the  production  of  wheat  profit- 
able under  the  least  favorable  conditions,  all  wheat  pro- 
ducers would  attempt  to  make  the  people  believe  that  the 
cost  of  producing  wheat  is  its  cost  on  the  poorest  farm, 
to  the  most  poorly  equipped  farmer.  Taking  the  poorest 
farm  and  the  poorest  farmer  as  the  standard  they  would 
argue  that  it  cost  two  dollars  per  bushel  to  produce  wheat 
when,  the  truth  is,  there  are  farms  on  which  well  equip- 
ped, intelligent  farmers  can  produce  wheat  and  make  a 
profit  at  fifty  cents  per  bushel.  This  is  the  cost  theory 
on  which  silver  mine  owners  claim  that  the  cost  of  min- 
ing silver  is  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  ounce, 
while  many  of  them  are  mining  silver  at  thirty  cents, 
and  the  instances  are  not  hard  to  find  where  it  has  been 
mined  at  twenty-five  cents  per  ounce. 


3° 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


The  minds  of  men  seem  to  be  enveloped  in  a  super- 
stition regarding  silver  because  it  has  long  been  used  as 
a  money  metal.  They  illogically  argue  that  because  it 
has  been  so  used,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to 
continue  so  to  use  it,  and  to  bind  itself  to  keep  its 
value  on  a  parity  with  gold.  What  a  contract  the  govern- 
ments of  the  world  would  have  if  they  were  bound  always 
to  use  as  money  the  metals  and  materials  that  were  so  used 
in  a  crude  state  of  civilization,  or  by  their  ancestors  of  a 
previous  century !  Some  would  now  be  trying  to  circulate 
copper  and  bronze,  while  our  own  New  England  States 
would  be  engaged  in  maintaining  a  parity  between  wam- 
pum, corn,  and  lead.  The  advance  of  civilization  is  evi- 
denced by  the  disuse  of  all  metals  as  money  that  become 
abundant,  and  the  adoption  of  the  metal  most  valuable  in 
the  estimation  of  the  civilization  of  the  world.  No  intelli- 
gent person  will  deny  that  gold  is  now  the  standard  of 
value  throughout  all  civilized  countries. 

If  "our  fathers"  had  made  lead  dollars  at  the  time  they 
used  lead  bullets  as  money,  it  would  be  just  as  logical  to 
now  use  lead  dollars  because  they  were  used  then,  as  it  is 
now  to  use  silver  dollars  because  they  were  used  a  hundred 
years  ago.  The  fact  is,  a  lead  dollar  would  then  have  had 
about  the  same  relative  value  to  silver,  as  the  silver  dollar 
has  to  gold  now.  It  is  not  a  violent  assertion  that  there 


REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT. 


31 


are  more  tons  of  silver,  in  bars  and  coin,  now  "in  sight"  in 
this  country  than  there  were  tons  of  lead  in  sight  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century.  It  would  be  just  as  logical  to 
attempt  to  protect  the  price  of  lead,  as  to  attempt  to  keep 
the  price  of  silver  on  a  parity  with  the  price  of  gold,  as  it 
was  when  "our  fathers"  first  authorized  the  coinage  of 
silver  dollars.  • 

There  is  probably  no  question  of  practical  business  im- 
portance regarding  which  there  is  more  widely  varied  and 
superstitious  misinformation  than  that  of  bi-metallism, 
or  double  standards,  and  the  parity  between  gold  and 
silver.  A  technical  discussion  of  these  questions  cannot 
be  here  elaborated.  A  few  statements  will  be  made  for 
the  purpose  of  challenging  attention,  which  will  be  fully 
maintained  when  other  opportunities  offer,  if  seriously 
called  in  question. 

1.  There  is  not  a  civilized  nation  using  gold  and  silver 
as  coin  metals,  in  which  one  or  the  other  is  more  than  a 
subsidiary  coin. 

2.  There  is  not  a  nation  using  gold  and  silver  as  coin 
in  which  prices  are  not  fixed  on  the  basis  of  a  single  gold 
or  of  a  single  silver  standard. 

3.  There  is  not  an  international  transaction  of  any 
kind,  between  civilized  people,  in  which  valuations  are 
not  computed  in  the  international  price  of  gold  bullion, 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


nor  is  there  a  trade  balance  settled  between  them  that  is 
not  settled  in  gold  at  its  bullion  value.  In  such  trans- 
actions, bullion  is  as  serviceable  as  coin  and  sometimes 
more  so.  Coin  does  not  circulate  between  countries 
except  at  its  bullion  value.  For  this  reason  the  silver 
dollar  that  the  farmer  or  laborer  may  have  received 
to-day  as  being  worth  one  dollar,  if  carried  to  England 
and  offered  in  payment  for  anything  bought  there, 
would  be  worth  there  but  fifty-five  cents. 

4.  The  amount  of  gold  at  the  command  of  any  country 
for  the  purpose  of  settling  international  trade  balances  is 
the  total  amount  of  its  bullion  plus  its  coin. 

5.  When  a  country  uses  silver  as  a  standard  of  value, 
the  free  coinage  of  silver  is  not  an  important  question, 
as  the  silver  available  for  the  settlement  of  balances  will 
be  the  total  amount  of  silver  bullion  plus  the  silver  coin 
in  the  country.     The  logical  result  of  expelling  gold  as 
the  standard  of  value  in  this  country  and,  as  a  necessary 
consequence,  %  the   adoption   of   silver  as  a  standard  of 
value  will  be,  not  only  to  inflate  the  currency  by  the 
amount  of  monthly  purchases  of  silver  now  being  made 
but  by  the  value  of  all  the  silver  bullion  that  can  be 
mined  in,  or  imported  into  the  country. 

6.  It  is  not  within  the  power  of  this  or  any  other 
country  to  regulate  the   international  market  price  of 
gold  or  silver  bullion. 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT. 


33 


7.  There  is  not  a  nation  using  a  double  standard  where 
bi-metallism  in  practice,  has  any  effect  whatever  on  the 
standard  by  which  prices  are  fixed.     The  prices  in  inter- 
national commerce   are   invariably   fixed    by   a   single 
standard,  the  international  value  of  gold  bullion.     Prices 
for  internal  commerce  may  be  fixed  by  a  single  gold  or  a 
single  silver  standard,  they  are  never  fixed  by  a  gold 
and  a  silver  standard. 

8.  All  prices  in  this  country  are  now  fixed  by  a  single 
gold  standard,  notwithstanding  all  our  warehoused  silver 
bullion  and  our  coined  silver  dollars. 

9.  Should  we  change  our  policy  and  at  once  coin  all 
silver  bullion  now  on  deposit  and  all  silver  bullion  that 
might  be  brought  to  our  mints  from  any  source,   all  of 
our  international  trade  balances  would  continue  to  be 
settled  in  the  international  market  price  of  gold  bullion, 
while  our  internal  trade  balances  would  be  settled  in  the 
value  of  silver  bullion. 

These  conditions  are  fixed  by  natural  economic  laws 
over  which  the  enactments  of  Congress  have  no  more 
control  than  they  have  over  the  operations  of  the  law 
of  gravitation.  In  contending  against  natural  economic 
laws,  the  action  of  currency  men  has  been  as  mistaken 
and  as  impotent  as  was  the  rage  of  Xerxes  when  ' '  he 
ordered  his  engineers  beheaded,  and  the  waters  lashed 


34  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


and  chained  in  token  of  his  displeasure"  with  winter- 
storms  and  rising  tides.  Instead  of  attempting  to  ren- 
der the  currency  automatically  elastic  by  the  impossible 
process  of  trying  to  keep  silver  on  a  parity  with  gold, 
they  should  advocate  a  single  gold  standard  in  order 
that  they  may  keep  the  prices  of  internal  commerce  on  a 
parity  with  the  international  market  prices  of  the  world. 
This  is  a  parity  that  may  be  made  real.  This  is  a  parity 
that  must  be  established  and  maintained  if  the  country 
is  to  suffer  no  impairment  of  its  prosperity.  When  these 
facts  are  once  made  clear  to  the  people,  the  silver  votes 
in  Congress  will  represent  owners  of  silver  mines,  the 
votes  favoring  any  monetary  use  of  silver,  except  as  a 
subsidiary  coin,  will  be  the  votes  of  silver  producing 
States  against  all  agricultural  and  manufacturing  States. 
Such  a  vote  will  show  the  silver  men  in  their  true  and 
utterly  hopeless  minority. 

44  Under  the  law  of  1878  the  United  States  Government 
purchased  288,474,752  ounces  of  silver  for  which  it  paid 
$305,135,497.  Under  the  law  of  1892  it  has  purchased 
129,926,735  ounces  for  which  it  has  paid  $127,237,410, 
making  a  total  purchase  of  418,401,497  ounces  at  a  cost 
of  $432,372,907.  This  silver  at  the  present  market  price 
is  worth  but  $351,457,257.  This  shows  a  loss  of  $80,915,- 
650,"*  or  very  nearly  nineteen  per  cent.  There  is  no 

*  George  Wilson,  Secretary.  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New  York 
city,  New  York  Herald,  February  2,  1893. 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT.  35 

way  of  knowing  what  this  silver  would  bring  if  placed 
on  the  market  and  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  Such  a 
course  would  for  a  time  send  the  price  of  silver  below 
the  cost  of  production  in  the  most  favored  mines.  It 
would  close  every  mine  in  the  United  States.  This  is 
the  possible  calamity  silver  mine  owners  have  prepared 
for  themselves  by  instigating  legislation  that  has  com- 
pelled the  Government  to  buy  and  store  the  products  of 
their  mines. 

Wheat  is  a  hardy  cereal  and  can  be  kept  for  many 
years.  The  economic  result  as  to  silver,  induced  by  the 
action  of  silver  mine  owners,  is  similar  to  what  it  would 
be  if  the  producers  of  wheat  should  instigate  legislation 
that  would  compel  the  Government  to  purchase  at  the 
market  price,  from  month  to  month,  for  several  years, 
a  large  portion  of  the  entire  wheat  crop  of  the  country 
and  store  it  under  conditions  that  would  prevent  anybody 
from  being  able  to  tell  when  the  policy  would  be  changed 
and  the  wheat  thrown  upon  the  market.  The  effect  of 
this  action  would  be  twofold.  The  false  market  thus  ' 
created  by  the  withdrawal  of  such  a  large  amount  of 
wheat  from  use,  would  cause  land  to  be  devoted  to  wheat 
production  that  had  not  been  before  so  used,  thus  en- 
larging the  acreage.  Countries  that  had  usually  bought 
American  wheat  would  seek  supplies  elsewhere,  thus 


36  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


compelling  the  American  farmer  to  compete  with  coun- 
tries where  wheat  can  be  produced  under  different  econo- 
mic conditions  pertaining  to  labor,  transportation,  cost 
of  delivery,  taxation,  currency  and  credit.  This  stimulus 
to  wheat  production  would  cause  the  price  of  wheat  to 
decline,  just  as  silver  has  declined,  so  that  American 
producers,  instead  of  realizing  a  greater,  would  really 
receive  a  less  price  for  their  product,  just  as  silver  mine 
owners  have  done.  These  are  the  direct  effects  of  such  a 
policy.  A  secondary  cause,  equally  potent  to  depress 
prices,  wotild  be  found  in  the  uncertainty  about  the 
ultimate  disposal  of  the  vast  Government  hoard.  So 
long  as  the  filled  Government  ware-houses  could  over- 
shadow them,  no  private  individuals,  nor  even  inter- 
national syndicates,  would  feel  safe  in  holding  wheat. 
They  would  only  buy  and  handle  what  could  be  taken 
for  immediate  use.  In  this  way  it  would  happen  that, 
instead  of  comparatively  small  holdings  stored  all  over 
the  country  and  throughout  other  countries,  controlled 
by  many  different  local  conditions  and  circumstances, 
so  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  secure  concerted  action 
to  place  the  whole  amount  on  the  market  at  one  time, 
there  would  be  one  enormous  stock  controlled  by  one 
interest  which,  when  so  ordered,  could  offer  its  entire 
supply  to  the  highest  bidder.  If  that  supply  were  equal 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT. 


37 


to  the  entire  wheat  crop  for  one,  two,  or  three  years, 
such  a  sale  would  destroy  the  wheat  producing  industry 
for  that  length  of  time.  Wheat  producers  would  be  self 
defeated  by  the  means  they  used  to  gain  an  undue  eco- 
nomic advantage.  This  will  be  the  inevitable  result  to 
silver  mine  owners.  Should  these  persons  once  clearly 
understand  the  economic  law  governing  the  price  of 
silver,  they  would  become  the  most  clamorous  for  the  in- 
stant repeal  of  all  laws  for  the  purchase  of  silver  for  the 
purpose  of  hoarding.  A  similar  result  may  be  traced 
in  the  effect  on  the  production,  price  and  use  of  cotton, 
caused  by  the  withholding  of  American  cotton  from  the 
markets  of  the  world  during  our  uncivil  war.  The  same 
result  would  follow  the  hoarding  of  any  product  of  fields, 
mines  or  factories.  These  illustrations  ought  to  be  suffi- 
cient to  demonstrate  to  the  understanding  of  any  person 
that  a  permanent  interest,  an  industry  that  must  continue 
to  be  carried  on  as  long  as  the  human  wants  it  supplies 
shall  exist,  cannot  be  a  gainer  in  the  long  run  by  means  of 
unsound  economic  methods  established  by  law.  Any 
person  whose  opinion  is  worth  considering  must  admit 
that  the  Government  cannot  continuously  buy  silver  for 
which  it  has  no  use,  and  redeem  the  certificates  issued 
for  it  in  gold,  of  which  it  is  in  need.  The  logic  of  any 
arithmetic  now  mastered  by  a  ten-year  old  child  in  any 


38  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


public  school,  teaches  the  impossibility  of  succeeding  in 
carrying  out  a  never  ending  policy  like  this.  The  first 
sign  of  the  approaching  end  would  be  seen  in  the  in- 
creasing difficulty  experienced  by  the  Government  in 
paying  gold  for  silver.  As  long  as  gold  is  being  paid 
for  silver,  and  the  silver  bought  is  not  offered  for  sale, 
the  direct  loss  incurred  in  its  purchase  does  not  become 
individualized.  As  soon  as  the  bubble  bursts,  however, 
its  pent-up  evils  will  affect  every  person  in  the  whole 
country.  A  financial  disaster  such  as  has  now  overtaken 
this  country  has  been  foreseen  by  able  financiers  from 
the  day  when  the  people  first  started  on  their  mad  career 
of  unwise  economic  legislation. 

One  of  the  mysteries  in  the  silver  question  isithe  tenac- 
ity with  which  farmers,  wage-workers  and  small  trades- 
men cling  to  the  mistaken  idea  that  silver  is  the  money 
metal  of  the  people,  and  gold  the  money  metal  of  the 
rich.  This  intellectual  phenomenon  can  be  accounted 
for  in  no  way  other  than  by  assuming  that  the  literature 
they  consult  and  the  leaders  by  whom  they  are  guided 
present  to  them  but  one  side  of  the  argument,  or  rather, 
arguments  based  on  misinformation,  and  studiously  ex- 
clude any  instruction  not  in  accord  with  their  purpose. 
It  is  true  that  rich  people  as  a  class  favor  a  single  gold 
standard.  It  is  not  true  that  they  do  this  for  the  purpose 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT. 


39 


of  oppressing  the  poor.     Any  standard  of  value,   any 
coinage  regulation,  any  currency  system  that  is  best  for 
the  poor  is  also  best  for  the  rich.    It  is  not  true  that  the  poor 
can  improve  their  own  condition  by  favoring  bi-metalism 
or  a  single  silver  standard,  no  matter  what  reason  may 
actuate  them.     The  only  reason  the  rich  desire  a  single 
gold  standard  is  because  gold  is  the  currency  of  civiliza- 
tion ;  it  circulates  at  its  bullion  value  in  all  countries ;  it 
makes  a  nearer  approach  to  stability  in  value  than  any 
other  money  metal,  and  for  these  reasons  furnishes  the   . 
best  basis  for  uniformity  in  prices  and  world  wide  credit. 
The  poor  man  can  never  become  richer  unless  he  saves 
some  portion  of  his  income.     The  poorer  he  is,  the  smaller 
is  his  income,  and  the   smaller  is  the  percentage  of  his 
income  that  he  can  save.     A  ten  per  cent,  saving  on  an 
income   of  $500  per  year  would   be  but   $50  per  year. 
This  means  that  of  the  income,  $450  per  year  is  spent  to 
satisfy  the  wants  of  life  and  $50  per  year  is  saved.     This 
is  the  entire  betterment  accruing   from  a  year's  work. 
This  saving  he  must  invest  at  home.     He  cannot  invest 
$50  in  the  best  gold  securities  in  the  world  as  the  rich 
may    invest  their  many  thousands;  he  must  make  his 
investments  at  home  where  they  are  subject  to  the  con- 
ditions affected  by  local  currency. 

Persons  having  small  incomes  are  the  ones  most  in 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


need  of  the  protection  afforded  by  a  stable  and  safe 
monetary  system  such  as  a  single  gold  standard  can 
alone"  supply.  This  may  be  further  illustrated.  The 
rich  are  constantly  in  touch  with  the  financial  conditions 
of  the  world.  If  their  own  knowledge  of  the  operation 
of  natural  economic  laws  does  not  teach  them,  their  ob- 
servation of  the  course  of  events  advises  them  of  an  ap- 
proaching calamity.  This  gives  them  plenty  of  time  in 
which  to  change  their  investments,  either  in  form  or 
location,  or  both,  in  such  a  way  as  to  insure  their  safety 
while  the  disturbance  lasts.  The  doing  of  this  is  the 
first  evidence  of  distrust  that  becomes  apparent  to  the 
public.  This  course  immediately  affects  the  prosperity 
of  all  industries.  The  poor  are  fixed  in  the  place  circum- 
scribed by  their  poverty.  They  have  no  opportunity  to 
foresee  the  impending  disaster  and  no  means  of  escaping 
from  it  when  it  bursts  upon  them.  How  far-reaching  the 
disaster  of  the  failure  of  the  Government  to  pay  gold  for 
silver  will  be,  can  be  indicated,  but  it  cannot  be  fully 
measured  and  correctly  understood.  Gold  payments 
while  made,  adjust  the  value  of  all  property  of  every 
description  to  the  gold  standard.  When  the  Govern- 
ment ceases  to  pay  gold  all  of  this  enormous  value  will 
settle  down  to  a  silver  standard.  What  will  be  the 
result  of  this  change?  All  current  money  will  shrink  in 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT.  41 


value  about  forty-five  per  cent. ,  that  is,  the  dollar  value 
of  to-day  will  be  worth  only  fifty-five  cents.  It  may 
appear  to  the  masses  for  a  time  to  still  be  of  its  old  dollar 
value,  but  they  will  soon  realize  that  it  is  losing  its  pur- 
chasing power  when  they  come  to  spend  it.  All  owners 
of  money  will  lose  forty-five  per  cent,  of  their  holdings, 
a  loss  as  tangible  and  distressful  to  them  as  though  their 
property  to  that  amount  had  been  destroyed  by  fire  on 
which  they  held  no  insurance."  There  will  be  no  real 
destruction  of  tangible  property,  but  to  individual  owners 
of  money  the  loss  will  be  absolute.  This  loss  will  come 
to  all  money  in  pocket,  on  deposit,  or  loaned  payable  in 
current  funds.  All  savings  bank  deposits  will  shrink 
forty-five  per'  cent.  This  will  entail  an  absolute  loss 
upon  all  savings  bank  depositors.  The  loss  thus  caused 
on  savings  bank  deposits  alone,  which  must  fall  on  the 
poor,  will  aggregate  more  than  the  total  amount  paid  by 
the  Government  for  silver  since  the  enactment  of  the 
first  silver  purchase  law  in  1878  up  to  date  and  including 
the  remainder  of  this  year.  Is  not  this  fact  sufficiently 
startling  to  compel  one  to  wonder  by  what  process  of 
reasoning,  intelligent  men  can  favor  silver  legislation  of 
this  character,  and  at  the  same  time  pose  as  friends  of 
the  people?  The  savings  bank  depositors  represent 
about  one-third  of  the  population  of  the  United  States. 


42  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

They  belong  to  the  class  who  are  dependent  upon  their 
daily  work  for  their  living ;  they  are  honest  and  indus- 
trious; they  are  the  true  nobility  of  American  citizen- 
ship. Their  support  of  the  silver  legislation  of  the  past, 
which  has  been  demanded  in  their  name,  has  been 
secured  by  misinformation.  If  they  suffer  a  loss  of  but 
nineteen  per  cent,  on  the  purchasing  power  of  their 
wages  and  on  the  amount  of  their  savings,  by  a  change 
from  a  gold  to  a  silver  standard  of  prices,  a  loss  the 
equivalent  of  the  present  apparent  loss  on  the  silver  pur- 
chased by  the  Government,  their  loss  will  exceed  in 
amount  the  entire  value  of  all  the  silver  the  Government 
owns.  Can  they  afford  it? 

There  is  still  another  point  of  view.  All  persons  en- 
gaged in  the  production  of  any  commodity  that  is  ex- 
ported and  sold  in  a  foreign  market  are  gold  producers, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  all  balances  of  trade  which 
this  country  can  establish  against  a  foreign  country  are 
paid  in  gold.  This  undeniably  classes  all  agricultural 
and  manufacturing  States  as  gold  producing  States. 
When  the  voting  power  of  these  States  is  considered, 
either  in  the  general  elections  by  the  people,  or  in  the 
halls  of  Congress,  the  fact  that  a  handful  of  silver  mine 
owners  have  been  successful  in  deluding  the  people  and 
their  representatives  into  the  course  of  action  that  has 


THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT.  43 

been  and  is  still  being  followed,  is  one  of  the  most  as- 
tounding illustrations  of  the  wide-spread  acceptance  of 
an  economic  fallacy  that  can  be  found  in  contemporane- 
ous history,  In  vain,  efforts  to  maintain  a  parity  between 
gold  and  silver,  the  supreme  necessity  of  maintaining  a 
parity  between  prices  for  international  and  internal 
commerce,  has  been  overlooked.  Should  the  misfortune 
ever  occur  of  having  prices  for  internal  commerce  ad- 
justed to  a  single  silver  standard,  as  must  inevitably  be 
the  result  of  the  present  course  if  much  longer  persisted 
in,  the  losses  in  discounts  and  exchanges  which  will  fall 
on  every  producer  of  export  commodities,  will  exceed 
the  value  of  the  entire  silver  product  of  the  country  by 
such  an  enormous  amount  that  the  dazed  sufferers  will 
wonder  by  what  method  of  delusion,  hallucination  of 
understanding  or  superstition  of  belief  it  was  made 
possible  to  anyone  to  lead  them  into  so  fatal  an  error. 

This  subject  is  limited  only  by  the  vast  expanse  of  our 
country,  the  magnitude  of  its  wealth,  the  productive 
capabilities  of  its  fields,  mines  and  factories,  the  industry 
and  forceful  energy  of  its  people.  It  cannot  be  ex- 
hausted in  one  chapter  nor  in  many  volumes,  but  it  can 
be  summed  up  in  one  statement : — A  single  gold  standard 
is  stable  and  safe.  It  is  the  only  standard  which  will 
keep  prices  for  internal  commerce  on  a  parity  with  prices 


44 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


for  international  commerce.  It  is  the  only  standard  that 
can  adequately  protect  the  interests  of  the  laborer,  me- 
chanic, farmer,  manufacturer  and  merchant.  This  stand- 
ard must  be  maintained,  or  an  era  of  prosperity  will  end  in 
a  season  of  adversity  and  self -induced  despair. 

During  the  early  history  of  Kentucky  the  Indians 
traded  silver  bullets  to  the  pale  faces  for  lead  bullets. 
We  laugh  at  the  simplicity  of  their  ignorance. 

During  the  quadricentennial  anniversary  year  of  the 
discovery  of  America  by* Columbus  our  laws  compel  our 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  from  Kentucky  to  trade  gold, 
for  which  we  have  many  uses,  to  the  silver  mine  owners 
for  silver,  for  which  we  have  no  use,  and  all  the  intelli- 
gent world  is  laughing  at  the  simplicity  of  our  ignorance. 
They  may  justly  call  "the  pale  faces"  of  this  country 
silver  maniacs. 

The  first  act  in  the  programme  of  progress  is  the  re- 
peal of  all  silver  purchase  laws,  and  the  enactment  of 
the  affirmation  that,  it  is  the  financial  policy  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country  to  unalterably  adhere  to  and  maintain 
a  single  gold  standard. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE    REPEAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL  TAX  ON   STATE    BANK 

CURRENCY. 

The  only  objection  to  this  proposal  is  that,  if  the 
national  law  taxing  State  Bank  currency  is  repealed, 
banks  of  issue  will  be  authorized  by  the  several  States, 
and  State  Bank  currency  will  displace  National  Bank 
currency.  There  is  not  to-day  a  State  Bank  of  issue  in 
existence.  Before  the  war  there  were  no  National  Banks. 
All  paper  currency  was  issued  then  by  State  Banks. 
This  objection,  and  this  fact,  disclose  the  truth  that  the 
National  law  taxing  State  Bank  currency  is  wrongly 
named.  It  is  not  a  revenue  measure.  It  is  a  prohibitory 
measure  and  was  so  intended.  It  was  enacted  as  a  war 
measure  for  the  purpose  of  strengthening  National  Banks 
that  they  might  be  made  more  efficient  aids  to  the  finan- 
cial policy  of  the  Government.  It  was  intended  to  and 
did  close  every  State  Bank  of  issue  in  the  country.  It  is 


46  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

not  a  revenue  measure.  No  revenue  is  collected  under 
it.  It  has  destroyed,  by  the  power  of  taxation,  that  which 
the  National  Government  has  no  right  to  destroy  by 
direct  legislation.  It  therefore  may  be  attacked  through 
the  Courts  as  being  unconstitutional.  Such  a  point  will 
not  be  here  argued.  Under  a  government,  the  authority 
of  which  is  based  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed,  that 
has  no  other  authority  to  control  or  limit  its  actions,  all 
things  that  are  undeniably  for  the  welfare  of  the  people, 
considered  as  a  whole,  can  be  and  ought  to  be  made 
constitutional.  This  view  of  the  subject  limits  discussion 
to  the  direct  question.  Is  a  National  law  prohibiting 
State  Banks  of  issue  a  measure  well  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  prosperity  of  the  whole  people? 

It  will  be  admitted  that  the  wisdom  of  a  measure  can 
only  be  determined  by  a  comparison  of  its  results  with 
the  conditions  that  preceded  it,  or  by  showing  why  the 
change  it  is  intended  to  inaugurate  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  result  in  a  decided  benefit  for  the  people. 
Hamlet's  dictum — "rather  bear  those  ills  we  have  than 
fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of"  is  an  eminently  safe 
precept  to  follow  in  finance. 

The  National  Banking  system  displaced  State  Banks 
of  issue  and  many  manifold  advantages  resulted,  advan- 
tages that  perpetuated  themselves  beyond  the  era  of  war 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY. 


47 


necessities,  and  have  served  the  people  well  through  thirty 
years  of  peace.  It  may  be  that  a  majority  of  the  persons 
now  entitled  to  vote  never  had  any  personal  experience 
with  State  Banks  of  issue.  They  know  that  they  have 
never  sustained  a  loss  by  handling  National  Bank  notes, 
and  they  are  well  acquainted  through  written  and  tra- 
ditional history  with  the  wild  financial  disorder  that 
reigned  supreme  in  many  sections  of  the  country  during 
the  evil  davs  of  State  Bank  currency.  These  facts  ren- 
der it  almost  impossible  to  secure  a  respectful  hearing 
among  a  majority  of  financiers  and  business  men,  for 
any  proposal  to  abolish  the  National  law  taxing  State 
Bank  currency.  Such  a  proposal  is  always  looked  upon 
as  equivalent  to  a  proposal  to  establish  State  Banks  of 
issue.  This  is  invariably  assumed  to  be  the  worst  form 
of  financial  lunacy,  and  yet,  wherein  it  is  any  worse  than 
the  financial  lunacy  exhibited  in  the  silver  legislation  of 
the  last  fifteen  years,  it  will  be  difficult  for  the  ' '  out  of 
town  Bankers  in  this  city  ( New  York )  trying  to  re-dis- 
count their  paper  at  abnormally  high  rates,"  or  for  that 
matter,  those  to  whom  they  applied  for  assistance,  to 
explain. 

To  relieve  any  person  of  the  trouble  of  trying  to  dis- 
cover whether  or  not  the  proposal  as  stated  is  really  in- 
tended to  open  the  way  for  the  establishment  of  State 


48  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


Banks  of  issue,  and  then  to  proceed  to  establish  such 
Banks,  I  will  state  plainly  that  it  is  so  intended.  Having 
thus  taken  my  position,  self-assigned,  among  financial 
lunatics,  I  shall  exhibit  the  workings  of  a-  mind  that 
may  be  pronounced  sane  on  all  points  but  one.  This 
reflection  calls  to  mind  the  saying  of  some  philosopher 
who  said  that  no  great  reform  has  ever  been  carried  to  a 
successful  issue  that  was  not  championed  by  a  man  who 
had  become  insane  on  the  subject. 

On  the  currency  question,  men  have  been  led  to  act 
from  sentiment  or  superstition,  instead  of  a  sound  and 
judicial  reason.  They  have  permitted  their  views  and 
actions  to  be  limited  to  the  narrow  radius  of  their  indi- 
vidual interests.  To  use  the  ordinary  phrase  of  the  day, 
gold  bugs  and  National  Bank  men  have  considered  their 
interests  fully  served  by  the  existing  order  and  have  op- 
posed every  change.  Currency  men,  once  called  green- 
backers,  thought  their  interests  would  be  served  by  the 
issue  of  more  paper  currency.  This  conflict  of  personal 
interests  resulted,  as  a  first  effect,  in  the  re-issue  of  re- 
deemed legal  tender  notes,  because  politicians  thought 
their  interests  would  be  served  by  making  this  concession 
to  an  apparently  popular  demand.  Silver  men  then 
made  their  appearance  and,  by  sophistry  deftly  used,  in- 
duced currency  men  to  champion  their  cause,  making  it 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  AQ 

appear  to  them  that,  as  silver  was  abundant  and  cheap, 
they  could  secure  an  expansion  of  the  currency  by  using 
silver  as  its  basis.  The  gold  men  and  the  National  Bank 
men  presented  a  united  front  against  this  combination. 
The  conflict  has  resulted  directly  in  the  Bland  law  of 
1878  and  the  Sherman  law  of  1890,  and  in  driving  gold 
out  of  the  country  to  such  an  extent  that  there  is  grave 
danger  of  our  being  carried  on  to  a  silver  basis,  because 
politicians  thought  their  interests  would  be  served  by 
making  concessions  to  apparently  popular  demands. 
This  has  paralyzed  business  by  uncertainty,  general  dis- 
trust and  contractions  of  credit.  It  has  given  merchants 
throughout  the  country  great  difficulty  in  renewing  their 
notes,  has  caused  many  industrial,  mercantile  and  finan- 
cial failures,  and  has  sent  many  country  bankers  to 
business  centers  to  attempt  to  re-discount  their  paper  at 
abnormally  high  rates,  all  of  which  bears  eloquent  testi- 
mony to  the  truth  that  this  silver  legislation  is  the  work 
of  financial  lunatics.  Yet,  during  the  whole  course  of 
this  legislation  the  administration  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  gold  men  and  National  Bank  men. 

Financial  lunacy  may  be  denned  as  a  sound  mind 
cracked  on  the  currency  question.  So  far  as  I  am  ad- 
vised, gold  men  and  National  bankers  have  never  hon- 
estly and  sincerely  set  themselves  at  work  to  see  what 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


kind  of  measures  they  could  devise  that  would  satisfy 
the  reasonable  demands  of  the  currency  men  who  had 
made  the  mistake  of  championing  the  cause  of  the  silver 
men,  and  that  would,  at  the  same  time,  respond  to  all 
requirements  for  a  sound  and  safe  currency.  The  posi- 
sition  of  gold  men  and  National  Bank  men  has  been  one 
of  suspended  development  which  will  certainly  terminate 
in  their  death,  if  they  do  not  rouse  themselves  into  fresh 
activity  and  respond  to  the  demands  of  the  times.  It 
may  do  for  a  few  years  to  affirm  that  our  currency  laws 
are  the  best  ever  devised  and  should  not  be  changed. 
This  might  always  be  true,  if  nothing  else  changed. 
But  other  conditions  do  change,  and  it  is  directly  in  ac- 
cord with  the  nature  of  things  that  currency  laws  should 
change  also.  The  time  has  come  when  a  change  will 
have  to  be  made.  It  is  as  much  a  mark  of  lunacy  on 
one  idea  to  resist  all  change,  as  it  is  to  advocate  an  un- 
sound change.  In  this  respect  gold  men  and  National 
Bank  men  have  been  and  are  to  day,  financial  lunatics, 
as  clearly  defined  and  well  developed,  as  are  those  who 
have  espoused  the  cause  of  silver  men  through  the  delu- 
sion that  they  could  thereby  secure  an  expansion  of  the 
currency  in  a  way  that  would  induce  prosperity.  Their 
unlimited  success  will  bring  to  them  the  most  bitter  dis- 
appointment. Prosperity  and  the  non-expansion,  or  the 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  5! 

expansion  of  the  currency,  on  the  lines  on  which  each 
party  has  been  working,  are  as  incompatible  as  light 
and  darkness,  knowledge  and  ignorance.  They  cannot 
both  exist  in  the  same  place  at  the  same  time. 

Currency  men  have  made  the  same  mistake  that  has 
been  made  by  gold  men  and  the  National  Bank  men. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  they  have  ever  honestly  and 
sincerely  attempted  to  formulate  their  proposals,  solely 
with  the  view  of  securing  an  automatically  elastic  cur- 
rency that  would  be  stable  and  safe,  tested  by  all  eco- 
nomic requirements,  and  thus  gaining  their  point  by 
including  in  their  proposed  enactments  the  sound  prin- 
ciples of  all  features  contended  for  by  their  opponents. 
They  have  always  sought  success  through  the  physical 
force  of  numbers,  rather  than  by  strength  derived  by 
intelligently  absorbing  the  essentially  good  features  pos- 
sessed by  their  opponents.  Success  by  force  of  numbers, 
when  guided  by  ignorance,  is  always  translated  as  a 
defeat  by  those  who  write  history. 

There  is  no  certainty  equal  to  the  positive  convic- 
tions held  by  the  ignorant  and  lunatics.  Both  parties 
to  this  currency  conflict  have  been  absolutely  certain  that 
their  opponents  were  absolutely  wrong,  and  have  had 
their  attention  so  riveted  to  this  point,  that  they  have  not 
discovered,  until  a  financial  earthquake  made  the  firm 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


ground  under  them  sway  and  tremble,  that  the  logic  of 
events  was  proving  them  both  wrong  and  establishing 
their  financial  lunacy  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt.  This 
sudden  awakening  of  both  parties  to  the  grave  dangers  in 
existing  financial  conditions,  and  their  causes,  is  the  first 
indication  of  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  in  which 
progress  shall  be  induced  by  freedom  from  all  unsound 
economic  laws  and  policies  enacted  or  entered  upon  in 
the  agony  of  uncivil  strife,  to  preserve  the  Nation,  and 
that  have  beeri  perpetuated  for  thirty-two  years,  while 
suspicions  and  resentments  have  been  gradually  dying 
out,  as  smoldering  brands  remaining  after  the  national 
conflagration. 

The  financial  danger  that  now  threatens  the  prosperity 
of  the  country,  it  is  sufficiently  clear,  is  the  logical  out- 
growth of  compromises  made  between  four  classes  of 
currency  men.  An  attempt  must  now  be  made  to  adjust 
their  demands  on  new  lines  to  which  all  classes  who 
seek  •  only  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  country,  can  give 
a  hearty  endorsement,  (i).  The  gold  men  want  a  single 
gold  standard  adopted  and  maintained  as  the  permanent 
policy  of  the  country.  (2).  The  National  Bank  men 
want  the  continuance  of  the  National  Banking  system, 
believing  it  to  be  the  means  of  furnishing  a  safe  currency 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  53 


which  they  can  issue  and  manipulate  on  a  basis  that  will 
be  profitable  to  them  and  fair  to  the  people.  (3).  The 
currency  men  want  a  sound  currency  that  is  auto- 
matically elastic.  (4).  The  silver  men  want  a  currency 
based  on  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  or  purchase  of 
silver.  Each  has  his  personal  reasons  for  his  wants, 
and  each  professes  that  the  thing  he  wants,  if  granted  in 
the  way  he  desires,  will  be  certain  to  induce  the  greatest 
possible  degree  of  prosperity  for  the  people. 

It  will  be  assumed  that  all  persons  are  agreed  that  the 
operation  of  natural  laws  cannot  be  changed  by  legisla- 
tive enactment.  This  being  true,  then  all  persons  must 
agree  that  legislative  enactments  that  are  not  in  accord 
with  the  requirements  of  sound  economic  laws  cannot 
induce  the  highest  degree  of  prosperity.  By  testing 
their  views  by  the  requirements  of  such  laws,  a  correct 
opinion  may  be  formed  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  policy 
of  each  class  of  currency  men,  and  of  the  measures  by 
which  they  have  undertaken  to  secure  their  object. 

First,  a  single  gold  standard.  The  superiority  of  gold 
for  use  as  a  money  metal  is  so  broadly  acknowledged 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  it  is  not  necessary  to  en- 
large upon  such  a  point.  Economically  considered,  the 
metal  best  adapted  to  be  used  as  coined  money  is  one 
that  fluctuates  the  least  in  international  market  price,  in 


54 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


its  bullion  form;  one  that  is  in  use  in  countries  with 
which  the  largest  percentage  of  dealings  are  had ;  and 
one  that  has  greatest  value  per  weight  and  bulk.  All  of 
these  requirements  are  responded  to  by  gold  more  closely 
than  by  any  other  metal.  This  being  true,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  all  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  a  single 
gold  standard  as  the  fixed  financial  policy  of  this  country 
urged  on  grounds  other  than  those  of  the  fitness  of  the 
metal  to  perform  the  service. 

About  the  only  objection  seriously  urged  is  the  asser-^ 
tion  that  there  is  not  a  sufficient  amount  of  gold  for  the 
purpose.  Those  who  urge  this  objection  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  the  more  civilized  a  people  become  the  less  use 
they  make  of  metallic  money  of  any  kind.  The  true 
function  of  a  gold  standard  is  to  furnish  the  nearest 
possible  approach  to  an  unvarying  measure  for  prices,  a 
measure  that  is  the  same  in  all  countries,  and  a  means 
of  settling  international  balances  with  a  metal  having 
a  constant  international  value.  Prices  fixed  by  such  a 
standard  make  the  nearest  approach  to  international 
equalization  and  enable  those  dealing  in  commodities 
subject  to  international  exchange  to  conduct  their  busi- 
ness with  the  least  possible  loss  on  account  of  fluctua- 
tions in  price  of  commodities  or  in  the  value  of  ex- 
change. Prices  for  internal  commerce,  when  fixed  by 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  55 

a  gold  standard,  correspond  closely  with  prices  for 
international  commerce.  This  gives  stability  to  the 
entire  industrial  structure  of  a  country  and  establishes 
the  greatest  attainable  confidence  in  the  industrial  and 
commercial  activities  of  the  people. 

Confidence  is  the  foundation  of  prosperity.  It  has 
a  greater  effect  upon  the  course  of  values  than  any 
other  factor.  Competition  between  nations  for  com- 
mercial supremacy  will  award  the  prize  to  that  nation 
which  commands  the  greatest  degree  of  confidence 
in  the  stability  of  its  financial  policy.  It  is  with 
nations  as  it  is  with  individtials,  so  long  as  there  is  no 
doubt  regarding  the  prompt  payment  of  every  obligation, 
principal  and  interest,  in  a  currency  of  equal  value  with 
that  in  which  payment  of  the  money  advanced  was 
made,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  amount  of  credit  that  can 
be  obtained.  Foreign  holders  of  American  securities  do 
not  return  them  so  long  as  they  have  no  doubt  as  to  the 
prompt  payment  of  principal  and  interest  when  due,  in 
international  currency,  that  is,  in  commodities  at  inter- 
national market  prices,  which  are  always  fixed  by  a  gold 
standard,  or  in  gold  bullion.  The  need  of  gold  is  simply 
for  the  purpose  of  prompt  redemption  when  called  upon, 
•  or  for  the  payment  of  a  trade  balance  when  one  may 
appear  against  us.  To  obtain  a  sufficient  amount  of 


56  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

gold  for  this  purpose  we  have  at  our  command  the  pro- 
ducts of  our  own  mines  and  the  hoarded  wealth  of  the 
world.  Whenever  the  commodities  exported  exceed  in 
gold  value  that  of  the  commodities  imported,  the  balance 
in  our  favor  is  paid  to  us  in  gold.  Every  person  engaged 
in  producing,  from  farm,  mine,  or  workshop,  a  com- 
modity that  is  exported,  is  producing  the  gold  of  com- 
merce, as  truly  as  the  person  who  is  mining  that  metal. 
Every  such  export  is  an  offset  against  an  import  that 
would  otherwise  draw  gold  from  us  and,  to  that  extent, 
enables  us  to  keep  the  gold  we  have.  When  the  export 
bill  exceeds  the  import  bill  the  balance  is  paid  to  us  in 
gold.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  logical  deduction 
from  this  known  process  of  commerce,  establishes  the 
fact  that  all  producers  of  e.rport  commodities  are  gold 
producers,  and,  as  such,  their  industrial  interests  can  be 
served  in  no  other  way  as  well  as  by  establishing,  and 
unquestionably  maintaining,  a  gold  standard  by  which 
all  prices  for  international  and  internal  commerce  may 
be  fixed. 

The  adoption  of  such  a  policy  will  result  in  establish- 
ing the  stability  and  safety  of  all  forms  of  American 
securities,  and  the  belief  that  when  paid  they  will  be 
paid  in  the  currency  of  international  commerce.  It  is 
because  confidence  in  this  belief  has  been  weakened 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  57 

that  American  securities  have  been  returned,  in  a  con- 
stantly increasing  tide,  ever  since  the  adoption  of  the 
policy  of  reissuing  redeemed  legal  tender  notes,  and  the 
adoption  of  the  silver  coinage 'and  purchase  laws.  The 
economists  of  foreign  countries  knew  then,  as  well  as 
did  those  of  our  own  country,  that  such  a  policy  could 
not  be  persisted  in  without  debasing  our  currency  to 
the  level  of  a  silver  standard.  Foreigners  pay  for  our 
securities  as  they  do  for  our  commodities,  in  the  currency 
of  international  commerce.  They  do  not  want  to  pay 
gold  for  a  security  and  when  the  security  is  redeemed, 
to  accept  silver  for  it.  Being  intelligent  enough  to  fore- 
see that  such  a  prospect  was  before  them,  they  have 
been  seeking  protection  by  quietly  returning  our  securi- 
ties while  they  could  get  our  gold  without  trouble  or  dis- 
count. 

There  is  no  question  of  the  ability  of  the  people  of 
this  country  to  pay  all  of  their  liabilities,  public  or 
private,  in  gold  values,  it  is  their  disposition  to  do  so 
that  is  questioned.  Disposition  involves  the  factors  of 
honesty  and  intelligence.  If  we  credit  ourselves  with 
honesty,  then  we  have  to  deal  with  the  factor  of  intelli- 
gence only.  This  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  people 
have  adopted  the  policies  which  have  impaired  confi- 
dence in  their  disposition  to  always  make  payments  in 


58  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

gold  values,  through  an  improper  understanding  of  the 
resources  at  their  command,  or  through  misinformation 

as  to  the  best  way  to  use  them.     The  fact  that  it  is  the 

P 

consensus  of  the  opinion  of  the  ablest  economists  of  the 
world,  as  well  as  of  our  own  country,  that  it  is  perfectly 
feasible  for  the  people  of  this  country  to  undertake  to 
pay  all  obligations,  public  and  private,  in  gold  values,  is 
all  the  assurance  any  person  should  require  for  giving 
his  vote  in  favor  of  establishing  a  gold  standard  for  fix- 
ing all  prices  in  foreign  and  domestic  trade,  and  making 
a  solemn  declaration  of  a  purpose  to  adhere  to  such  a 
policy.  By  thus  establishing  the  highest  possible  degree 
of  confidence  in  our  securities,  we  add  their  value  to  our 
gold  producing  ability.  Foreigners  cannot  obtain  our 
securities  without  paying  gold  value  for  them.  When 
an  unquestioning  confidence  in  our  disposition  to  pay  all 
obligations  in  gold  values,  induces  large  purchases  of 
our  securities  by  foreigners,  their  value  is  added  to  the 
value  of  our  exported  commodities,  and  by  so  much,  off- 
sets demands  against  us  for  the  value  of  imports,  or  aug- 
ments the  amount  of  our  trade  balance  against  foreign 
countries  which  must  be  paid  to  us  in  gold.  These  con- 
siderations plainly  show  that  we  have  three  sources  of  . 
gold  supply: 

i.  Products  of  our  mines, 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  59 

2.  Export  of  our  commodities. 

3.  Export  of  our  securities. 

The  export  of  commodities  is  governed  by  the  economic 
conditions  of  production,  the  cost  of  exchange,  and  the 
economic  conditions  of  consumption. 

The  export  of  securities  is  governed  by  confidence  in 
the  stability  of  the  monetary  policy  of  the  country ;  the 
supply  of  domestic  funds  seeking  investments,  and  the 
demand  for  funds  by  securities  of  other  countries  offer- 
ing equally  as  good  or  better  returns  in  which  there  is 
an  equal  degree  of  confidence. 

Some  of  these  conditions  are  within  our  own  control, 
others  are  beyond  the  limits  of  our  power  to  control.  It 
is  our  business,  and  our  duty,  to  make  the  best  use 
possible  of  the  conditions  we  can  control,  and  to  accept 
the  results  as  the  measure  of  our  ability. 

A  deduction  that  is  perfectly  logical  from  this  exami- 
nation of  the  subject  is  the  conclusion  that  all  com- 
modities and  securities  that,  by  economic  processes  of 
production  and  transportation,  or  by  a  stable  monetary 
policy  intelligently  adopted  and  honestly  adhered  to, 
become  exchangeable  with  foreign  nations  are,  to  the 
extent  of  their  export  value,  additions  to  our  gold  supply 
and  additions  to  our  currency.  With  this  demonstration 
clearly  in  mind  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  impairment  of 


60  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


confidence  in  our  disposition  to  continue  to  pay  all  of  our 
obligations,  public  and  private,  in  gold  values,  has 
caused  a  greater  contraction  of  our  currency  than  the 
total  amount  that  has  been  added  to  it  by  the  illogical 
course  of  currency  men  in  advocating  silver  measures. 
An  illustration  of  the  important  function  of  confidence 
as  a  factor  in  currency  expansion  and  the  amount  of 
gold  necessary  to  maintain  gold  values  is  furnished  by 
the  experience  of  the  banks  in  Canada  and  in  New  York 
City,  in  maintaining  gold  payments  during  the  panic  of 
1857.  On  account  of  the  intimate  financial  relations 
between  Canada  and  the  United  States,  it  was  thought 
when  specie  payment  was  suspended  in  the  United 
States,  it  would  have  to  be  suspended  in  Canada  also. 

"A  meeting  of  bank  officers,  representing  all  the 
bankers  in  Montreal,  was  held  there  to  consider  the 
question  and  to  adopt  such  precautions  as  were  deemed 
advisable.  It  was  found  that  there  were  eight  dollars  of 
paper  money  in  circulation  for  each  dollar  of  coin  there 
was  in  the  banks.  The  conclusion  was  reached  by  the 
meeting  that  with  such  a  relatively  large  volume  of 
paper  money,  enforced  suspension  was  inevitable,  and 
that  in  the  public  interest  as  well  as  their  own,  the  banks 
would  better  suspend  voluntarily.  There  was,  however, 
one  bank  that  refused  to  suspend,  and  as  the  other 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  61 

banks,  if  they  suspended  could  not  maintain  equal  credit 
with  it,  no  action  was  taken  by  the  meeting.  Specie 
payment  was  maintained  in  Canada  through  the  crisis, 
simply  by  reason  of  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  their 
banks  and  bank  currency.  The  good  management  of 
the  banks  had  so  far  secured  the  confidence  of  the  people 
as  to  compensate  for  the  defective  law  that  permitted  an 
issue  of  paper  so  disproportionate  to  the  coin  reserve." 

4 '  The  banks  of  the  city  of  New  York  had  one  dollar 
of  coin  reserve  for  each  three  dollars  of  paper  in  circula- 
tion, yet  they  were  forced  to  suspend,  notwithstanding 
that  they  were  well  managed  and  that  the  banking  law 
of  the  State  of  New  York  was  the  best  in  the  Union. 
They  were  carried  down  by  the  general  distrust  of  banks 
and  bank  currency,  created  by  loose  and  discreditable 
banking  laws  and  banking  in  other  States."* 

It  is  the  high  degree  of  confidence  given  to  foreign 
and  domestic  investors  of  large  sums,  whose  action  can 
be  controlled  only  through  their  faith  in  the  stability  of 
a  nation's  monetary  policy,  that  make  its  ability  and  dis- 
position to  maintain  a  gold  standard  of  values,  such  a 
powerful  factor  in  expanding  current  exchanges  of 
values,  and  in  permanently  and  safely  expanding  the 
currency  of  any  country. 

*  A  private  letter  on  the  silver  question.    Printed  by  request.    By 
W.  B.,  Toledo,  Ohio,  May  20,  1890. 


62  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

The  gold  men  who  advocate  the  adoption  of  a  single 
gold  standard,  have  failed  to  secure  their  object  because 
they  have  adhered  to  the  theory  that  such  a  policy  can 
be  carried  out  through  the  United  States  Treasury  only, 
and  by  continuing  the  national  banking  system.    Instead 
of  giving  heed  to  the  grievances  of  the  people,  because 
not  wisely  stated,  and  endeavoring  to  devise  a  sound 
banking  system  that  would  satisfy  their  demands,  the 
gold  men  have  joined  their  allegiance  with  the  National 
Bank  men,  and  have  permitted  the  silver  men  to  capture 
those  who  really  hold  the  balance  of  political  power, — the 
masses  who  demand  the  decentralization  of  the  currency 
in  order  that  it  may  be  made  more  elastic,  more  readily 
responsive  to  the  needs  of  the  people.     By  doing  this 
they  have  permitted  unsound  economic  views  to  become 
the  guides  of  popular  action  and  have  been  forced  to  see 
their  representatives  accept  compromise  measures,  which 
being  only  less  wrong  than  the  full  measures  demanded 
by  their  opponents,   have  simply  slackened   the   speed 
with  which  approach  has  been  made  to  the  change  from 
a  gold  to  a  silver   standard,    to  which   the   course   of 
adopted  action  inevitably  leads.     The  advocates  of   a 
gold  standard  were  beaten  when  their  representatives 
failed  rightly  to  educate  currency  men  on  the  natural 
economic  laws  of  trade  and  finance  and  instead,  compro- 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  63 

mised  with  them  by  consenting  to  a  reissue  of  redeemed 
legal-tender  notes.  The  gold  men  have  been  badly 
beaten  in  every  succeeding  contest.  While  holding  the 
offices  of  government  they  have  been  governed. 

National  Bank  men  have  wanted  a  sound  and  safe 
currency  which  they  can  issue  and  manipulate  on  a  basis 
that  will  be  profitable  to  themselves  and  fair  to  the  peo- 
ple. In  pursuit  of  this  object  they  have  clung  to  the 
form  of  their  organization  with  a  fanatical  superstition 
that  has  prohibited  the  study  of  any  other  system.  They 
have  refused  to  recognize  the  fact  that  a  cause  for  the  final 
extinction  of  the  system  on  which  National  Banks  are 
founded  is  laid  in  the  fundamental  basis  of  the  system, — 
National  Bonds.  When  there  are  no  National  Bonds  there 
can  be  no  National  banks  of  issue  without  radical  changes 
in  the  system  as  first  devised  and  now  operated.  This 
fact  has  been  a  more  potent  factor  in  arresting  the  rapid 
extinction  of  the  national  debt,  which  for  a  few  years 
made  the  financial  strength  of  this  country  the  wonder 
and  envy  of  the  civilized  world,  than  any  or  all  other  in- 
fluences combined.  By  the  course  pursued,  National 
Bank  men  have  committed  themselves  to  the  illogical 
proposition  that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  the  nation  in 
debt,  paying  interest  on  bonds,  in  order  that  it  may  be 
supplied  with  a  uniform  and  safe  currency  and  reach  a 


64  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

high  degree  of  prosperity.  Instead  of  searching  for  the 
cause  of  the  demands  of  currency  men  and  devising 
measures  in  conformity  with  sound  economic  principles 
for  their  satisfaction,  National  Bank  men  have  resented 
their  demands  and  forced  them  into  allegiance  with 
silver  men  as  the  only  way  to  obtain  relief. 

The  advocates  of  the  National  Banking  system  have 
failed  to  find  a  means  for  the  perpetuation  of  that  sys- 
tem, because  they  have  committed  themselves  to  the 
maintainance  of  \\j$>fonn  instead  of  devoting  themselves 
to  a  wide  dissemination  of  a  clear  understanding  of  its 
principles,  and  gladly  welcoming  any  new  application 
found  for  them. 

The  currency  men  want  a  sound  and  an  automatically 
elastic  currency.  They  have  failed  to  secure  the  co-op- 
eration of  the  business  and  financial  interests  of  the 
country  and  of  the  world,  because  they  have  not  cor- 
rectly understood-  the  economic  conditions  which  will 
command  with  absolute  certainty  that  which  they  need. 
They  have  repelled  those  who  could  be  most  helpful  to 
them  by  a  mistaken  demand  for  cheap  money,  instead 
of  a  demand  for  good  money.  They  have  failed  to  see 
that  every  commodity  exported  is  settled  for  at  its  gold 
value,  and  that,  as  an  inevitable  result,  they  are  producers 
of  gold  values.  These  failures  have  caused  them  to 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  5^ 

yield  to  the  sophistries  of  silver  men  and  to  take  actions 
that  have  produced  results  which  are  the  direct  opposites 
of  those  they  desired.  They  wanted  a  safe  and  an  auto- 
matically elastic  currency.  The  fear  of  a  change  from 
gold  to  a  silver  standard ;  the  shrinkage  of  values  caused 
by  the  return  of  securities ;  the  arresting  of  free  action  in 
industries  and  commerce  caused  by  the  loss  of  confidence 
in  our  disposition  to  maintain  gold  values,  has  compelled 
an  enormously  larger  contraction  of  currency  circulation 
of  commodities,  securities  and  funds,  than  all  additions 
made  to  the  circulating  medium  by  the  coining  of  silver 
dollars  and  the  issue  of  silver  certificates  in  conformity 
with  measures  enacted  by  their  votes.  This  truth  is 
eloquently  attested  by  the  universal  difficulty  experienced 
by  merchants  and  bankers  in  trying  to  renew  their  notes 
and  to  rediscount  their  paper  at  abnormally  high  rates. 
This  result  of  ill-advised  currency  legislation  demonstrates 
the  fact  that  large  issues  of  "cheap"  money- tend  to 
make  good  money  scarce  and  dear. 

The  advocates  of  a  sound  and  an  automatically  elastic 
currency  have  defeated  the  objects  they  have  pursued 
because  they  have  failed  to  guide  themselves  by  the 
well-known  economic  fact  that  certainty  of  prompt  pay 
me  nt  of  principal  and  interest  in  gold  values  is  the  most 
powerful  factor  known  in  finance  to  induce  an  abundant 
supply  of  currency  at  the  lowest  attainable  rates. 


66  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

The  silver  men  want  a  currency  based  on  a  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  or  purchase  of  silver.  The  only  as- 
signable reason  for  this  is  the  desire  on  their  part  to  main- 
tain or  increase  the  price  of  silver.  In  this  they  have 
not  succeeded,  because  their  efforts  have  induced  an  in- 
creased production  of  silver  and  at  the  same  time  have 
restricted  its  consumption.  They  have  mistakenly  con- 
sidered the  silver  sold  to  the  Government,  consumed, 
•when  the  truth  is,  it  is  only  stored.  A  change  of  policy 
by  the  Government  could  place  the  entire  stock  on  the 
market  in  a  day  and  thus  bring  the  price  of  silver  below 
the  cost  of  its  production  in  the  most  favored  mines,  and 
also  seriously  depreciate  the  value  of  every  article  into 
the  manufacture  of  which  silver  enters.  The  knowledge 
of  this  fact  is  a  potent  factor  in  preventing  the  free  use 
of  silver  in  the  arts.  Every  ounce  of  bar  silver  and 
every  silver  coin  held  by  the  Government  is  simply  with- 
drawn from  consumption  and  stored  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  advances  of  current  funds.  This  is  the  exact 
effect  of  the  transaction  and  some  day  this  silver  will  be 
sold  for  the  redemption  of  the  certificates  issued  against 
it.  It  is  the  knowledge  that  this  day  of  redemption  must 
come,  combined  with  the  unnatural  and  uncertain  price 
of  silver  caused  by  the  existence  of  such  an  enormous 
hoard  under  one  control,  that  prevents  all  manufacturers 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  67 

of  articles  into  the  production  of  which  silver  enters, 
from  carrying  a  large  amount  of  silver  in  either  its 
manufactured  or  bullion  form.  This  uncertainty  as  to  its 
future,  combined  with  its  largely  increased  production, 
has  rendered  silver  unfit  for  a  money  metal  except  as  a 
subsidiary  coin.  These  conditions  would  only  change 
for  the  worse  by  being  aggravated,  should  free  and  un- 
limited coinage  of  silver  be  substituted  for  compulsory 
purchase.  This  is  fully  illustrated  by  the  effect  on  the 
price  of  silver  caused  by  the  stoppage  of  free  coinage  in 
India.  The  only  remedies  for  the  evils  from  which 
silver  miners  now  suffer  that  will  ever  be  found,  are  in 
promptly  stopping  the  accumulation  of  a  hoard  which 
can  be  placed  on  the  market  at  any  time  and  thus  depre- 
ciate the  value  of  their  product,  and  of  all  articles  in  the 
manufacture  'of  which  it  is  used;  and  in  enacting 
measures  for  the  distribution  and  actual  consumption  of 
the  enormous  hoard  now  held  by  the  Government. 
When  this  is  accomplished,  and  all  sales  of  silver  there- 
after are  for  actual  use,  the  price  of  silver  will  reach  a 
normal  condition  in  which  it  will  fluctuate,  as  does  the 
price  of  wheat  and  other  commodities,  in  response  to  its 
supply  and  demand. 

Instead  of  storing  silver  and  obtaining  advances  on  its 
market  value,  silver  men,  with  the  aid  of  currency  men, 


58  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

have  induced  the  Government  to  buy  the  silver  and 
issue  its  own  notes  in  exchange  therefor.  As  a  result, 
the  Government  has  taken  silver  which  it  did  not  want 
and  paid  for  it  in  gold  which  it  does  want.  It  has  held 
this  silver  until  the  depreciation  on  its  cost  at  present 
values  amounts  to  $81,000,000.  To  this  loss  must  be 
added  the  interest  on  the  amount  by  which  the  national 
debt  could  have  been  decreased  had  all  funds  used  by 
the  Government  in  the  purchase  of  silver  been  devoted 
to  that  purpose. 

Of  the  four  classes  of  currency  men,  the  silver  men 
have  come  nearest  to  securing  their  object  in  the  form 
in  which  they  have  sought  to  secure  it,  and  their  success 
in  doing  this  has  burdened  them  with  disabilities  from 
which  it  will  take  them  longest  to  recover.  The  suc- 
cesses of  ignorance  are  always  translated *as  defeats  by 
those  who  write  history. 

There  is  not  an  interest  represented  by  these  four 
classes  of  currency  men  that  cannot  be  served  in  the 
highest  degree  by  the  repeal  of  the  national  law  taxing 
State  Bank  currency.  All  reasons  that  justified  the  en- 
acting of  that  law  have  long  since  disappeared,  and  all 
reasons  for  its  continued  life  are  based  on  unsound  eco- 
nomic theories.  The  reasons  for  its  retention  all  refer 
to  what  State  Bank  currency  was  before  the  war.  None 


REPEAL— TAX  ON  STATE  BANK  CURRENCY.  69 

.of  them  refer  to  what  State  Bank  currency  may  now 
become.  The  repeal  of  the  National  tax  law  is  a 
National  question.  The  character  of  State  Bank  cur- 
rency is  a  question  for  state  legislation.  For  this  reason 
no  attempt  can  be  made  in  this  discussion  to  show  in 
what  ways  State  Bank  currency  may  be  made  stable  and 
safe,  and  sufficiently  abundant  to  satisfy  all  requirements 
that  accord  with  sound  economy.  This  will  be  done  in 
another  work  under  the  title  of  ' '  Money,  Currency  and 
Banks  of  Issue"  I  will  state,  however,  I  believe  that  it  is 
perfectly  feasible  to  devise  a  system  of  State  Bank  currency 
that  will  accurately  respond  to  every  requirement  of  a 
sound  currency,  and  that  will  furnish  as  good  a  currency 
as  that  of  the  Bank  of  England,  which  will  automatically 
respond  to  the  varying  needs  of  every  section  of  the 
country  by  expansion  and  contraction,  as  naturally  as 
the  action  of  the  lungs  in  breathing,  and  with  a  similar 
life-giving  effect  upon  the  growth  of  prosperity.  With 
such  a  currency  all  need  for  retaining  in  circulation 
paper  currency  issued  by  the  Government  will  cease. 

The  Government  will  then  be  relieved  from  the  strain 
of  acting  as  a  clearing-house  for  banks  and  a  general 
responsibility  for  fluctuations  in  currency  supply.  This 
will  remove  the  principal  factors  of  disturbance  from  the 
"administration  of  Government  finance. 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


A  sound  economic  policy  indicates  to  all  currency  men, 
that  the  solution  of  present  financial  difficulties  and  the 
sure  way  of  inducing  the  greatest  degree  of  prosperity 
is  in  the  direction  of  the  repeal  of  the  national  law  tax- 
ing State  Bank  currency  and  the  maintainance  of  a 
single  gold  standard. 

The  second  act  in  the  programme  of  progress  is  the 
repeal  of  the  National  tax  on  State  Bank  currency  and 
the  enactment  of  the  affirmation  that  all  currency  issued 
in  this  country,  by  whatever  authority,  shall  be  main- 
tained on  a  parity  with  gold. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

Freedom  of  trade  between  all  nations,  and  between  all 
states,  provinces  and  people  within  nations,  is  a  natural 
condition  and  the  only  one  in  strict  accord  with  the  re- 
quirements of  natural  economic  laws, 

On  account  of  the  vast  differences  between  nations  in 
their  systems  of  government ;  the  development  of  their 
industries ;  the  social  and  economic  status  of  their  wage- 
workers  and  their  standards  of  living,  it  is  desirable  for 
a  nation  to  encourage  the  production  under  its  own 
jurisdiction  of  every  article,  the  ultimate  production  of 
which, — with  an  economic  advantage  in  comparison  with 
the  cost  of  producing  a  similar  article  under  the  juris- 
diction of  any  other  nation, — is  not  prohibited  by  natural 
causes.  . 

A  nation  must  achieve  political  independence  in  order 
that  it  may  exist.  Having  gained  political  independence, 


72  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

its  duty  of  self  preservation  and  of  inducing  the  great- 
est obtainable  prosperity,  demands  that  it  shall  use  every 
means  it  can  command  to  achieve  industrial  indepen- 
dence ;  in  no  other  way  can  it  serve  in  the  most  practical 
manner  the  well-being  of  its  people.  In  efforts  to  achieve 
or  maintain  political  independence,  all  loyal  citizens  fuse 
their  individual  powers  and  interests  and  stand  as  a  unit 
for  the  integrity  of  the  nation.  In  efforts  to  acquire  or 
maintain  industrial  independence  and  prosperity  it  is  no 
less  a  patriotic  duty  for  all  citizens  to  fuse  their  indi- 
vidual interests  and  to  stand  as  a  unit  for  the  vital  prin- 
ciple that  every  industry  seeking  to  establish  itself  in 
this  country  shall  be  protected.  This  principle  is  as 
vital  to  industrial  independence  and  national  prosperity 
as  the  principle  that  every  person  wishing  to  become  a 
citizen  of  this  country  shall  be  freed  from  his  allegiance 
to  any  other  nation,  is  to  political  independence.  A 
sound  system  of  national  economy  can  be  founded  only 
upon  the  policy  of  protection  for  every  naturalized  indus- 
try, as  an  effective  system  of  national  independence  can 
can  be  founded  only  upon  the  policy  of  protection  for 
every  naturalized  citizen. 

A  sound  system  of  national  economy  is  as  essential  to 

American  industrial  independence,  as  was,  or  is,  a  system 

.  of  American  Civil  Government  to  American  political 


R.EVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


independence.     There  is  no  difference  of  opinion  regard- 
ing the  desirability  of  American  political  independence. 
There  should  be  none  regarding  the  desirability  of  Amer- 
ican industrial   independence.      I   assert  that  there   is 
none.     Difference  of  opinion  there  is,  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  measures  designed  to  secure  national  industrial  inde- 
pendence but  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  desirability  of 
such  independence  there  is  not.     Let  no  man  delude  him- 
self with  the  idea  that  the  policy  of  protection  for  American 
industries  and  for  industrious  Americans  was  defeated 
by  the  ballots  cast  on  November  8,  1892.     The  opposition 
.succeeded  in  convincing  a  very  large  majority  of  voters 
that  the  policy  it  advocated  regarding  a  number  of  eco- 
nomic measures  would,  if  adopted,  better  promote  the 
well-being  of  the  people1,  than  does  the  policy  now  in 
force.     Not  by  a  single  line  or  word  or  suggestion  did 
any  contestant  intimate  to  any  voter  that  he  was  endeav- 
oring to  do  aught  else  than  so  to  change  conditions  as  to 
secure  greater  advantages  or  benefits  for  the  people  than 
they  were  then  enjoying.     This  is  the  spirit  and  mean- 
ing of  protection.     The  Presidential  election  of  1892  af- 
firmed free  trade  as  the  ideal  economic  principle,  and  the 
logic  of  events  will  affirm  adequate  protection,   as  the 
practical  economic  policy. 
To  secure  the  production  in  this  country  of  articles 


74  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

that  cannot  now  be  produced  here  with  the  same  econo- 
mic .advantages  with  which  they  are  being  produced  in 
other  countries,  an  import  duty  must  be  assessed  of  suf- 
ficient amount  to  equalize  the  difference  in  cost  of  pro- 
duction between  this  and  foreign  countries.  The  avowed 
object  in  assessing  such  a  duty  is  to  induce  and  establish 
the  manufacture  of  such  articles  in  this  country,  and  de- 
velop their  manufacture  until  they  can  be  produced  here 
with  economic  advantages  equal  to  those  enjoyed  in  any 
other  country.  When  this  point  is  reached,  import  protect- 
ion should  cease,  as  at  this  point  the  manufacture  of  an 
article  is  fully  naturalized,  just  as  a  foreigner  who,  after 
residing  in  this  country  a  sufficient  time,  on  renouncing 
allegiance  to  his  native  government  and  subscribing  to 
an  oath  of  allegiance  to  this  government,  becomes  a  nat- 
uralized citizen.  If  there  is  reason  to  beiieve  that  the 
production  of  a  commodity  cannot  be  naturalized  within 
a  reasonable  time,  the  attempt  should  not  be  made,  nor 
should  aliens  be  admitted  to  this  country  when  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  they  can  not  be  fitted  for  citizen- 
ship or  that  they  have  no  desire  to  become  citizens.  The 
burden  of  import  duties  being  accepted  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  establishing  the  domestic  production  of  a  com- 
modity, with  economic  advantages  equal  with  those  en- 
joyed in  foreign  countries,  the  duty  when  assessed 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


75 


should  be  sufficient  to  secure  the  object  in  view,  and  it 
should  be  reduced  from  time  to  time  as  progress  is  made 
in  approaching  the  objective  point,  without  regard  to 
the  revenue  requirements  of  the  government.  If  the 
revenues  produced  by  the  collection  of  import  duties,  as- 
sessed and  reduced  as  indicated,  are  excessive,  the  sur- 
plus should  be  expended  in  paying  the  national  debt  and 
that  done,  in  making  internal  improvements ;  if  not  suf- 
ficient, the  deficiency  should  be  covered  by  internal  reve- 
nue taxes,  one  of  which  should  be  an  income  tax.  The 
policy  of  collecting  no  import  duties  on  articles  that  there 
is  no  reason  to  believe  can  be  produced  here  within  a  rea- 
sonable time,  with  economic  advantages  equal  to  those 
enjoyed  by  other  countries,  nor  upon  the  commodities  that 
can  be  so  produced  here,  should  be  rigidly  adhered  to 
and  strictly  enforced,  even  though  it  places  every  im- 
ported commodity  upon  the  free  list.  This  is,  in  fact, 
the  ultimate  intent  and  purpose  of  protection  as  a  policy. 
To  this  basis,  tariff  reform  will  ultimately  come.  That 
this  course  is  the  correct  one  is  plainly  indicated  by  the 
fundamental  statement  that  untaxed  and  unrestricted 
freedom  of  trade  between  all  nations  and  all  people  is  the 
natural  condition  and  the  one  in '  strict  accordance  with 
the  requirements  of  a  sound  economy.  The  nation  that 
can  first  reach  this  condition,  and  abolish  absolutely  its 


76 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


import  duties  of  every  sort  and  kind,  will  be  the  nation 
whose  industries  and  commerce  will  control  the  exchanges 
of  the  world.  No  nation  can  reach  this  position  of  su- 
preme economic  advantage  until  it  has  educated  and 
accustomed  its  people  to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  gov- 
ernment by  taxes  assessed  directly  upon  themselves. 

In  the  contact  of  man  with  man,  that  man  is  best  pro- 
tected whose  individual  powers  or  resources  render  him 
perfectly  able  to  protect  himself.     Commodities  that  can 
now  be  produced  in  this  country  with  economic  advan- 
tages equal  to  or  better  than  those  enjoyed  by  other 
countries,  are  the  ones  that  do  not  require  the  protection 
of  import  duties.     They  are  perfectly  able  to  protect 
themselves.     This  is  the  most  stable  and  effective  form 
of  protection;  it  is  established  by  conditions  that  are 
sovereign  to  legislative  enactments.     To  gain  such  an 
independent  position  is  the  object  of  every  producer  who 
asks  that  an  import  duty  be  assessed  on  the  commodi- 
ties in  the  manufacture  of  which  he   is  engaged.     To 
assess  an  import  duty  on  commodities  that  can  be  pro- 
duced in  this  country  with  economic  advantages  equal 
with  those  of  other  countries  is  as  unwise  an  interference 
with  freedom  of  trade,  as  not  to  assess  an  import  duty 
on  commodities,  the  manufacture  of  which  can  be  estab- 
lished in  this  country  by  means  of  such  a  duty,  is  an  un- 
wise failure  to  protect  domestic  industry. 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


An  American  economic  policy  based  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  protection  for  American  industries  will  seek  to 
equalize  by  means  of  import  duties,  the  economic  con- 
dition under  which  commodities  are  produced  in  this 
and  foreign  countries.  The  practical  application  of  an 
economic  principle  to  secure  a  definite  object  is  both  a 
science  and  an  art.  Properly  to  apply  the  principle  of 
protection  for  American  industries,  economic  science 
must  show  what  commodities  require  protection  to  in- 
duce their  manufacture  in  this  country  and  the  degree 
of  protection  they  require.  Economic  art  must  devise 
the  best  means  of  supplying  the  protection  required,  of 
making  it  effectual  and  of  reducing  it  until  it  disappears. 
Whenever  protection  is  granted  for  the  manufacture  of 
a  commodity  it  should  only  be  for  the  purpose  of  off- 
setting the  effects  of  existing  deficiencies  in  economic 
conditions  and  it  should  be  reduced  as  fast  as  such  de- 
ficiencies can  be  overcome.  The  object  is  so  to  establish 
the  manufacture  of  such  commodity  as  to  overcome  the 
deficiency  in  economic  conditions,  so  that  it  will  require 
no  protection.  To  secure  such  an  object,  the  protection 
granted  must  be  ample  at  the  outset,  and  there  must  be 
no  uncertainty  as  to  its  continuance  and  diminution. 

The  growth  of  an  industry  in  economic  conditions  is  a 
gradual  development  ;  the  degree  of  protection  should  be 


78  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

decreased  as  the  growth  of  the  industry  increases,  until  a 
point  is  reached  when  it  will  be  fully  established  and 
not  in  need  of  protection.  Protection  will  then  cease 
because  there  will  be  no  necessity  for  it.  No  measure 
can  be  properly  applied  for  the  protection  of  industries 
that  does  not  consistently  and  continuously  adjust  the 
differences  between  the  economic  conditions  under  which 
commodities  are  produced.  The  degree  of  protection 
must  vary  with  the  variations  in  such  conditions.  Under 
such  a  system,  commodities  will  be  constantly  dropping 
out  of  the  protected  list,  while  other  commodities  .will  be 
continually  placed  on  the  protected  list,  commencing 
their  course  of  development,  to  be  pursued  until  their 
manufacture  has  been  fully  established,  at  which  time 
they  can  be  graduated  by  being  placed  on  the  free  list. 
The  adjustment  of  economic  differences,  like  the  settle- 
ment of  trade  balances,  is  an  ever-recurring  contingency 
and  can  be  properly  done  only  by  the  assistance  .of  a 
thoroughly  capable  and  permanent  Commission,  directed 
to  investigate  and  verify  the  facts  for  the  information  of 
the  people  and  of  Congress.  Fiat  adjustments  can  never 
be  productive  of  the  highest  degree  of  good,  because 
they  must  necessarily  be  uncertain  and  unequitable.  So 
long  as  there  is  any  commodity  for  the  manufacture  of 
which  any  degree  of  protection  is  required,  the  granting 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


79 


of  protection  must  be  the  settled  policy  of  the  American 
people  if  the  manufacture  of  such  commodity  is  to  become 
naturalized,  and  if  America  is  to  realize  the  highest  possi- 
ble degree  of  industrial  independence.  Complete  indus- 
trial independence  will  be  achieved  when  all  com- 
modities used  in  America,  the  domestic  production  of 
which  is  not  prohibited  by  natural  causes,  are  produced 
in  America  without  protection. 

The  protection  afforded  by  existing  laws  is  well  de- 
signed to  form  the  basis  for  a  scientifically  developed 
economic  system.  Accepting  conditions  as  they  now 
exist,  no  further  example  of  assessing  or  removing  im- 
port duties  by  fiat  enactments  should  ever  be  found  upon 
our  Statute  Books,  Each  commodity  should  be  indi- 
vidualized and  dealt  with  solely  with  the  view  of  defin- 
ing the  economic  conditions  which  govern  its  manufac- 
ture in  this  and  foreign  countries.  The  first  action 
should  be  properly  to  adjust  the  rate  of  import  duty  so  as 
to  afford  necessary  protection,  no  more  and  no  less. 

The  second  measure  should  be  to  determine  within 
what  period  of  time  those  interested  in  the  production 
of  a  commodity  can  so  perfect  their  industry  as  to  trans- 
fer the  commodity  to  the  free  list.  The  avowed  purpose 
of  assessing  an  import  duty  being  to  establish  the  pro- 
duction of  a  commodity  in  this  country,  those  who  are  or 


8o  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

may  become  engaged  in  its  manufacture  should  be  re- 
quired to  make  a  statement  clearly  showing  in  what 
particulars  they  are  now  -unable  to  meet  free  foreign 
competition,  the  methods  they  can  employ  and  the  time 
they  will  require  so  to  perfect  nanufacturing  processes, 
acquire  the  necessary  machinery,  skilled  workman  and 
capital,  as  to  be  able  to  meet  foreign  competition  with- 
out the  interposition  of  import  duties.  The  amount  of 
import  duty  having  been  determined,  the  logical  se- 
quence is  that  Congress  should  require  all  persons  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  such  a  commodity  to  make 
an  annual  report  to  an  Import  Commission  that  will  show 
exactly  how  they  are  carrying  out  their  representations 
and  the  success  with  which  they  are  meeting,  in  reaching 
the  point  of  development  at  which  they  will  have  no 
further  need  of  protection.  The  import  duty  should  be 
reduced  each  year  by  the  per  cent,  of  gain  shown  by  the 
most  successful  manufacturer,  and  whenever  the  most 
successful  manufacturer  shall  show  that  he  can  success- 
fully compete  with  foreign  manufactures  the  commodity 
should  be  placed  on  the  free  list.  This  method  is  a  com- 
plete reversal  of  the  theory  of  protection  which  calls  for 
such  import  duties  as  will  enable  badly  located  and  an- 
tiquated establishments  to  make  a  profit,  and  those  that 
are  well  located,  fully  equipped  with  every  successful 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  Si 


apparatus  and  provided  with  ample  capital,  to  make 
enormous  profits.  This  method  takes  as  its  standard  the 
best  that  can  be  done  as  the  measure  of  progress,  instead 
of  chaining  energies  down  to  wait  for  laggards.  It  will 
destroy  the  fallacy  advanced  by  silver  men,  and  those 
who  desire  to  make  inordinate  profits  out  of  advantages 
gained  by  an  unnecessary  rate  of  import  duty,  that  the 
cost  of  a  product  is  its  cost  to  its  poorest  producer.  This 
false  position  is  taken  by  the  American  Iron  and  Steel 
Association  when  it  declares  on  the  strength  of  its  statis- 
tical report  of  the  iron  and  steel  output  for  1892,  that  the 
industry  was  not  prosperous  in  that  year.  A  few  manu- 
facturers made  good  profits,  many  made  small  profits, 
and  many  made  none  at  all.  As  protection  has  been  il- 
logically  practiced  the  many  who  make  no  profits,  and 
the  many  who  make  small  profits,  combine  to  lobby  Con- 
gress to  retain  or  increase  import  duties,  because  their 
business  was  not  profitable,  while  the  few  who  made 
good  profits  can  afford  to  pay  all  expenses  of  the  lobby. 
Industrial  prosperity  is  founded  on  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  not  on  the  survival  of  the  unfit. 

Every  reason  given  for  needing  protection  must  be 
noted,  every  method  indicated  by  which  differences  in 
economic  conditions  may  be  overcome,  must  be  fully  de- 
veloped, every  degree  of  progress  gained  must  be  an- 


82 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


nounced  by  a  corresponding  reduction  of  the  import 
duty.  All  statements  upon  which  such  action  is  based ; 
all  facts  by  which  such  a  policy  is  guided  to  its  consumma- 
tion, are  proper  subjects  for  determination  by  commis- 
sion. They  pertain  to  economic  conditions,  not  to  legis- 
lative policies.  The  determination  of  fact  is  a  judicial, 
not  a  legislative  function.  The  findings  of  a  Commission 
properly  organized  and  equipped  to  collect  evidence  re- 
garding the  degree  of  protection  needed  for  any  speci- 
fied commodity  in  order  to  establish  its  production  in 
America,  and  the  rate  at  which  such  protection  can  be 
reduced  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  the  best  progress 
made  in  establishing  the  industry,  will  be  a  safe  guide 
for  proper  Congressional  action. 

This  system  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  dia- 
gram of — 

ECONOMIC  ADVANTAGES. 


Best  Economic 

Advantage  in 
foreign  countries. 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

American  Eco- 
nomic Advantages 

O 

IO 

20 

1 
30(40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

100 

Import  Duty. 

0 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

O 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  those  commodities  for  the 
production  of  which  we  have  no  economic  advantages, 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  83 

and  those  for  which  we  have  the  full  measure  of  eco- 
nomic advantages,  are  free  of  import  duty,  such  as  coffee 
and  tea,  on  the  one  hand,  and  cotton  and  wheat,  on  the 
other  hand.  Between  these  extremes  there  is  an  endless 
variety  of  commodities  for  the  production  of  which  Ameri- 
can economic  advantages  may  be  placed  anywhere  on 
the  scale.  Being  once  placed,  its  progress  in  the  scale 
of  economic  advantages  will  cause  a  corresponding  de- 
cline in  the  scale  of  import  duties  until  the  objective  point 
is  reached  of  having  secured  economic  advantages  equal 
to  the  best  in  foreign  countries,  at  which  point  all  im- 
port duties  cease. 

This  system  individualizes  each  article  and  deals  with 
it  on  its  own  merits,  irrespective  of  the  requirements  of 
any  other  article.  Under  its  operation  many  manufac- 
turers will  be  gainers  by  using  commodities  that  are  im- 
ported free  of  duty,  or  by  manufacturing  articles  that 
can  enter  into  the  Exchanges  of  the  world  because  they 
are  produced  in  free  competition  with  the  industries  of 
the  world,  while  they  may  be  engaged  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  other  articles  that  are  protected  by  an  import 
duty.  Under  these  conditions  the  tariff  question  will 
become  purely  an  economic  question,  pertaining  to  those 
commodities  only  in  the  manufacture  of  which  a  suffici- 
ent degree  of  economic  advantage  has  not  been  attained 
to  justify  placing  them  upon  the  free  list. 


84  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

Such  an  administration  of  import  duties  will  give  to 
them  their  highest  protective  value,  because  they  will 
be  fixed  by  a  policy  providing  for  their  gradual  abolition, 
within  the  shortest  time  in  which  such  a  result  can  be 
realized  without  injury  to  industry.  This  system  will 
satisfy  all  intelligent  demands  for  the  reduction  of  import 
duties,  and  will  clearly  indicate  to  those  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  protected  commodities,  the  policy  they 
must  follow  in  preparing  to  meet  the  conditions  of  trade 
on  the  basis  of  a  continually  decreasing  rate  of  import 
duty.  Under  such  a  system  every  strong  and  capable 
manufacturer  will  wish  to  reach  the  time  as  speedily  as 
possible  when  the  factor  of  diminishing  import  duties 
will  be  entirely  eliminated  from  his  calculations,  and 
when  he  will  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  making 
reports  to  an  Import  Commission.  The  recommenda- 
tions of  this  Commission  will  be  based  on  a  full  knowl- 
edge of  economic  conditions,  continuously  and  scientific- 
ally investigated,  and  in  accordance  with  clearly  defined 
principles  of  American  economy.  The  Commission  will 
always  be  accessible  to  the  people  and  will  be  devoted 
to  the  study  and  exemplification  of  a  definite  economic 
policy  of  vital  interest  to  the  whole  country.  It  should 
be  above  sections,  and  uninfluenced  by  the  exigencies 
of  party  politics. 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  85 


The  importance  of  such  a  Commission  to  the  industries 
of  this  country  is  beyond  computation.  One  service  of 
enormous  value  that  it  will  render,  will  be  the  stability  it 
will  give  to  the  conditions  under  which  the  production  of 
protected  commodities  can  be  developed,  because  of  its 
ability  to  satisfy  the  people  that  the  import  duties  it 
approves  are  just.  Under  the  present  system,  import 
duties  are  assessed  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  a  combina- 
tion of  the  most  numerous,  who  are  the  most  incapable, 
who  thus  retard  industrial  progress.  Under  the  pro- 
posed system,  import  duties  will  disappear  when  the  most 
capable  can  do  without  them.  This  will  stimulate  indus- 
try to  the  highest  possible  degree  of  progress. 

Another  gain  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  this  system 
will  cause  those  in  power  to  prepare  the  country  for  a 
change  in  its  financial  policy,  from  deriving  its  revenues 
from  import  duties,  to  obtaining  them  by  direct  taxation. 
Revenues  obtained  by  direct  taxation  will  cause  a  care- 
ful scrutiny  of  all  items  of  expenditure  and  will  greatly 
assist  every  effort  to  check  extravagant  and  corrupt  uses 
of  the  people's  money.  When  the  public  revenues  are 
wholly  collected  directly  from  the  people,  it  will  be  clear- 
ly seen  that  it  is  the  people's  money  with  which  every 
demagogue  is  making  free,  when  he  grows  eloquent  over 
the  "old  flag  and  an  appropriation." 


86  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

X 

Domestic  commodities  produced  under  economic  con- 
ditions freed  from  all  protection  afforded  by  import 
duties,  will  at  once  enter  into  free  competition  with  simi- 
lar commodities  of  foreign  manufacture  in  the  markets  of 
the  world.  The  more  such  commodities  are  produced, 
the  greater  their  variety,  and  the  larger  their  volume, 
the  greater  will  be  the  power  of  American  exports  and 
imports  to  control  the  carrying  trade  of  the  oceans.  The 
more  we  produce  with  better  economic  advantages  than 
other  nations,  the  more  we  can  buy  from  other  nations 
of  those  things  which  we  cannot  produce  with  an  eco- 
nomic advantage. 

Closely  allied  with  the  cost  of  production  is  the  cost  of 
exchange.  Every  gain  made  in  economic  internal  trans- 
portation and  terminal  charges ;  every  gain  made  in  plac- 
ing ocean-carrying  trade  under  the  American  flag; 
every  gain  made  in  the  stability  of  American  monetary 
laws  and  policy,  and  in  economic  conditions  that  are,  or 
may  be  affected  by  legislative  action,  is  a  gain  made  for 
industrial  independence  and  national  prosperity. 

No  gain,  however,  in  cost  of  transportation  and  of  ex- 
change, can  compare,  in  its  power  to  induce  the  greatest 
degree  of  economic  advantages,  with  the  gains  made  by 
obliterating  the  distance  between  producer  and  consum- 
er. To  do  this  the  manufacturer  must  come  to  the  farmer 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  87 


and  the  miner.  The  fertile  farms  and  productive  mines 
of  America  cannot  be  distributed  among  other  nations  in 
order  that  their  products  may  be  delivered  to  the  manu- 
facturers there  employed  at  the  least  possible  cost,  but 
all  manufacturers,  which  term  is  inclusive  of  all  em- 
ployees engaged  in  manufacturing  occupations,  can 
remove  their  factories  and  themselves  into  the  very  midst 
of  the  farms  and  mines  of  this  country.  Such  a  change 
will  forever  obliterate  all  import  duties  on  the  commodi- 
ties manufactured  by  them,  which  farmers  and  miners 
may  consume.  Such  a  change  will  reduce  to  the  small- 
est possible  minimtim  the  cost  of  transportation  and  ex- 
change between  producer  and  consumer,  and  the  saving 
thus  effected  will  be  divided  by  the  natural  laws  of  com- 
merce, equally  between  the  farmer,*  mine  owner  and 
manufacturer.  Both  classes  are  producers,  both  classes 
are  consumers.  In  internal  commerce  there  are  no  im- 
port duties.  If  the  system  herein  advocated  is  intelli- 
gently instituted  and  unfalteringly  carried  out,  the  day 
is  not  far  distant  when,  so  far  as  America  is  concerned, 
there  will  be  no  import  duties  on  international  commerce, 
Clearly  defined  principles  for  carrying  out  a  fixed  eco- 
nomic policy  of  protection  for  American  industries  will 
be  a  triumph  for  the  people  second  only  in  importance 
to  the  establishment  of  manhood  suffrage  and  a  gold 


88  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

standard  for  currency  and  prices.  When  an  American 
economic  policy  is  so  fixed,  then  the  American  people 
will  first  realize  the  full  measure  of  their  strength,  the 
true  prestige  of  the  triumphs  of  the  Republic.  Induced  by 
the  proclamation  of  manhood  suffrage ;  acknowledging  no 
authority  except  laws  enacted,  and  that  may  be  repealed, 
by  authority  of  the  people,  individuals  have  come  to  Amer- 
ica by  millions  to  stand  with  uncovered  heads  and  uplifted 
hands  and  received  their  baptism  of  personal  liberty; 
subjects  no  longer,  they  have  become  men  among  men. 
Through  this  movement  of  the  producers  of  wealth,  all 
nations  have  paid  tribute  to  America.  Induced  by  the 
proclamation  of  a  settled  policy  of  protection  for  Ameri- 
can industries,  not  individuals  alone,  but  masters  of  in- 
dustries, with  all  their  belongings,  will  come  to  America 
to  gain  positions  of  advantage  from  which  to  command 
the  markets  of  the  world. 

Governments  are  instituted  with  the  intention  of  so 
controlling  unequal  individual  powers  that  they  may  be 
fully  exercised  without  abridging  equal  individual 
rights.  That  government  which  induces  the  freest  and 
fullest  exercise  of  unequal  individual  powers,  while  per- 
mitting the  least  abridgment  of  equal  individual  rights, 
will  secure  the  greatest  individual  freedom.  The  policy 
of  manhood  suffrage  is  not  a  debatable  question  in 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  89 

America.  Neither  should  be  the  policy  of  protection  for 
American  industries.  With  this  policy  definitely  settled ; 
with  a  gold  standard  for  currency  and  prices  firmly 
established ;  with  the  command  of  a  volume  of  internal 
commerce,  untaxed  by  import  duties  of  any  kind,  large 
enough  to  utilize  to  their  limit  all  economic  processes  of 
production,  we  can  equalize  economic  advantages  with 
competing  industries  wherever  located. 

The  autocratic  power  of  kings  and  the  servile  obedi- 
ence of  subjects  are  buried  together  at  all  entrances  to 
this  realm  of  manhood.  The  end  of  government  by 
kings  is  proclaimed  by  the  success  of  government  by  the 
people. 

With  oceans  on  our  east  and  oceans  on  our  west,  the 
control  of  the  commerce  of  a  hemisphere  is  ours  by 
right  of  location. 

With  freedom  from  traditions,  bequests,  and  heredi- 
tary titles,  that  bind  the  living  present  to  the  rule  of  the 
dead  past,  the  best  intelligence  of  the  ages  is  ours  by 
right  of  our  freedom  and  ability  to  learn  and  to  utilize  it. 

With  a  national  conservatism  resulting  from  the 
ownership  of  the  government  by  the  people,  inspired  by 
aspirations  for  national  industrial  independence  as  a 
means  of  securing  individual  well-being,  American 
ideas,  American  institutions,  and  American  industries 


9° 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


will  become  established,  multiplied  and  expanded  until 
their  influence  is  felt  by  all  nations. 

With  domestic  peace  assured,  and  foreign  wars  im- 
possible ;  with  the  increasing  respect  for  man  by  man ; 
and  the  recognition  by  the  people  of  true  principles  of 
government  and  of  sound  economic  laws,  we  are  ready 
to  commence  the  industrial  conquest  of  the  world.  Our 
conquests  will  be  made,  not  by  force  of  arms,  but  by 
supplies  of  needed  food  and  raiment;  not  by  subjugation 
to  foreign  authority,  but  by  example  of  larger  liberty ; 
not  by  the  destruction  wrought  by  sword  and  flame,  but 
by  increased  production  wrought  by  nerveless  machinery 
giving  relief  from  burdens  and  bringing  the  light  of 
prosperity  to  the  people;  with  exchanges  un taxed  and 
unrestricted,  freely  responding,  as  the  ebbing  and  flow- 
ing of  the  tides  to  the  influence  of  the  moon,  to  the  uni- 
versal law  of  supply  and  demand,  the  industrial  and 
commercial  supremacy  of  the  world  may  be  ours. 

The  power  to  achieve  political  independence  gained  us 
a  place  among  nations. 

The  power  to  maintain  national  unity  gained  us  a 
rank  equal  with  the  greatest. 

The  power  to  pay  our  obligations  in  gold  gained  ad- 
mission for  our  securities  to  the  favor  of  the  world's 
ablest  financiers. 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


The  power  to  protect  our  industries,  if  properly  used, 
will  gain  for  us  industrial  independence  and  the  highest 
attainable  degree  of  national  prosperity. 

The  industrial  and  commercial  supremacy  of  the 
world  is  ours  by  right  of  our  ability  to  acquire  it  by 
means  of  superior  economic  advantages. 

Protection  by  means  of  import  duties  is  a  cover  for 
weakness.  The  greater  the  degree  of  protection  de- 
manded, the  greater  the  weakness  confessed.  What 
more  worthy  of  the  united  effort  of  American  citizens 
than  the  patriotic  duty  of  eliminating  all  weakness  from 
industries  and  assisting  them  to  reach,  within  the  shortest 
possible  time,  the  full  degree  of  economic  advantage  in 
which  there  is  no  element  of  protection,  no  element  of 
weakness?  The  true  prote  ction  to  be  contended  for  is  the 
protection  afforded  by  economic  advantages  which  exist 
independent  of  legislative  interference.  These  advanta- 
ges include  not  only  the  primal  conditions  fixed  by  nature, 
but  the  acquired  conditions  resulting  from  progress  made 
in  government,  science,  art,  and  mechanical  skill,  and  the 
economic  strength  resulting  from  the  accumulations  of 
the  past.  This  is  the  most  stable,  the  most  effective 
form  of  protection.  It  is  the  protection  afforded  by  su- 
perior intelligence  and  resources.  It  is  the  protection  of 
which  manly  men  are  justly  proud.  To  acquire  the  pro- 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


tection  of:  best  economic  advantages  for  American  indus- 
tries, the  system  of  protection  by  import  duties  herein  ad- 
vocated must  be  established  as  a  fixed  feature  of  Ameri- 
can economic  policy,  unchangeable  as  the  feature  of  man- 
hood suffrage  is  in  American  political  policy,  and  the  ap- 
plication of  this  system  must  not  be  used  as  the  foot  ball 
of  partisan  politics.  This  can  be  done  only  by  the  creation 
of  a  commission  to  collect  information  for  Congress,  and 
to  show,  as  the  result  of  continuous  scientific  investiga- 
tion, what  the  degree  of  import  protection  should  be 
properly  to  equalize  economic  differences  between  do- 
mestic and  foreign  conditions,  and  the  rate  at  which 
import  protection  should  be  decreased  to  keep  pace  with 
the  gains  made  by  industrial  development. 

Viewed  in  its  logical  meaning  and  sequence,  the  de- 
mand for  a  decreasing  import  protection  for  American 
industries  is  a  demand  for  American  industrial  indepen- 
dence. This  demand  secures  and  concedes  all  advan- 
tages for  which  both  great  political  parties  have  con- 
tended. For  this  reason  it  is  a  solution  of  the  tariff 
question  to  which  all  parties  can  consistently  give  sup- 
port. It  also  provides  a  way  in  which  changes  can  be 
effected  from  high  import  duties  to  no  import  duties  with- 
out creating  a  financial  disturbance,  or  in  any  way  retard- 
ing the  prosperity  of  any  industry.  It  is  the  patriotic 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


93 


duty  of  all  parties  by  united  action  to  establish  this  sys- 
tem of  decreasing  import  protection,  because  it  will  avert 
the  impending  calamity  that  will  follow  radical  fiat  tariff 
reductions,  which  are  sure  to  be  made  if  the  people  are 
not  advised  that  the  course  indicated  is  the  true  way  in 
which  to  secure  the  reforms  they  demand.  It  is  of  vital  Ji 
importance  to  every  producer  of  a  commodity  on  which 
an  import  duty  is  now  assessed  to  urge  upon  his  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress  the  adoption  of  this  course  as  it 
will  at  once  relieve  him  from  all  uncertainty  as  to  the 
future  course  of  tariff  legislation  and  will  protect  him 
from  sudden,  and  it  may  be,  ill-considered  changes 
which  he  will  be  powerless  to  prepare  himself  to  meet. 
It  is  uncertainty  as  to  the  future  of  tariff  legislation  and 
the  general  distrust  growing  out  of  it,  as  much  as  it  is 
uncertainty  regarding  the  future  of  currency  legislation, 
that  is  now  causing  the  '  'universal  difficulty  experienced 
by  merchants  (and  manufacturers)  in  renewing  their 
notes,"  and  creating  such  widespread  and  disastrous 
financial  and  industrial  disturbance. 

With  this  policy  definitely  settled,  the  work  of  apply- 
ing its  principles  to  existing  conditions  can  be  under- 
taken with  the  confidence  imparted  by  an  assured  suc- 
cess. Under  this  policy  more  commodities  can  be  placed 
upon  the  free  list  during  the  term  of  the  present  admin- 


94  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

istration  than  have  ever  been  so  listed  by  any  administra- 
tion since  the  organization  of  the  Government,  and  this 
can  be  done  without  interfering  in  the  slightest  degree 
with  the  progress  or  prosperity  of  any  industry.  It  will, 
on  the  contrary,  expedite  and  expand  all  manufactures 
and  commerce.  The  inducement  will  be  the  reverse  of 
what  it  now  is.  Instead  of  contending  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  high  duties  as  manufacturers  have  been  com- 
pelled to  do  in  the  past,  because  they  had  no  definite 
assurance  as  to  the  policy  those  advocating  free  trade 
might  adopt,  the  assurances  given  by  this  system  will 
cause  the  most  capable  manufacturers  to  see  that  it  is  to 
their  interest  to  effect  the  liquidation  of  import  duties  as 
quickly  as  possible  so  that  they  may  be  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing with  manufacturers  of  other  nations  and  in  a  posi- 
tion to  enter  into  competition  with  them  for  the  trade  of 
markets  other  than  our  own.  As  long  as  they  operate 
under  cover  of  import  duties  they  must  act  on  the  defen- 
sive ;  as  soon  as  they  have  passed  out  of  that  condition 
they  become  aggressive.  //  is  sudden  and  ill-considered 
tariff  reductions  that  most  manufacturers  fear,  instead 
of  the  fact  of  a  reduction.  When  economic  conditions 
are  carefully  analyzed  as  herein  provided,  the  number  of 
commodities  that  can  be  placed  on  the  free  list,  as  soon 
as  public  finances  can  be  adjusted  to  the  new  conditions, 


REVISION  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


95 


by  decreasing  expenditures  and  developing  revenues 
from  direct  taxation,  will  be  a  surprise  to  the  people. 
Every  such  addition  will  be  hailed  as  a  new  conquest, 
widening  the  commerce  and  increasing  the  prestige  of 
the  Republic  of  Freedom. 

It  is  hardly  deemed  necessary  to  discuss  the  policy  of 
paying  bounties  to  producers  of  domestic  commodities. 
Such  a  procedure  can  find  no  defence  under  a  system  of 
decreasing  import  protection.  The  payment  of  such 
bounties  as  are  now  authorized  by  law  has  no  justification 
in  correct  economic  requirements.  They  are  based  on 
political  expediency  and  that  of  the  lowest  order.  They 
were  authorized  with  no  prospect  or  purpose  of  con- 
tributing to  the  prosperity  of  the  people,  but  solely  to 
perpetuate  political  power. 

In  the  programme  of  progress,  the  reforming  of  tariff 
legislation  holds  a  place  of  supreme  importance.  A  con- 
diton  precedent  to  its  masterful  accomplishment  is  the 
unquestioned  adoption  of  a  gold  standard  by  which  the 
internal  and  internatonal  prices  of  commerce  may  be  fixed 
and  comparisons  between  economic  advantages  may  be 
measured.  The  next  essential  requirement  is  the  organi- 
zation of  an  "Import  Commission"  for  the  determina- 
tion of  all  questions  of  fact  pertaining  to  import  duties. 
These  things  done,  the  policy  of  decreasing  import  pro- 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


tection  can  be  proclaimed,  and  the  nation  started  on  its 
course  to  realize,  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  the  ideal 
condition  of  free  trade  with  all  nations,  as  it  now  has 
free  trade  between  all  States. 

American  protection  for  American  industries,  adopted 
as  the  unchauging  policy  of  the  American  people,  will 
inevitably  lead  to  American  industrial  supremacy.  To 
the  consummation  of  such  a  result  the  co-operation  of 
every  loyal  American  citizen  may  be  consistently  re- 
quested and  should  be  enthusiastically  given. 

The  third  act  in  the  programme  of  progress  is  the  re- 
vision of  tariff  legislation  in  a  way  to  place  all  commodi- 
ties on  the  free  list  as  rapidly  as  this  can  be  done,  with- 
out placing  American  manufacturers  under  unequal 
economic  advantages  with  those  with  whom  they  will  be 
called  upon  to  compete. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   REVISION   OF    PENSION    LEGISLATION   AND  ADMINIS- 
TRATION. 

An  economic  discussion  of  the  principles  involved  in 
pension  legislation  and  administration  is  most  earnestly 
demanded.  Economic  science  undertakes  so  to  guide 
the  actions  of  men  that  they  shall  result  in  the  doing  of 
justice  by  each.  The  doing  of  justice  by  each  will 
secure  justice  for  each.  That  this  may  be  done  it  is 
fundamentally  necessary  that  every  legislative  act  shall 
be  aligned  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  eco- 
nomic justice.  When  legislative  enactments  are  thought 
unjust,  they  must  be  tested  by  the  standards  of  economic 
justice  in  order  to  show  wherein  they  are  defective  and 
in  what  way  they  should  be  changed  properly  to  correct 
their  defects.  Changes  so  made  will  invariably  be  satis- 
factory to  a  people  who  ask  only  for  justice  and  who 
honestly  desire  to  be  just. 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


The  desire  of  every  man  to  stand  well  in  the  estima- 
tion of  his  neighbors  and  the  public  is  such  that,  no 
matter  how  willing  he  may  be  to  profit  by  unjust  legisla- 
tion, he  will  not  willingly  forfeit  his  claim  to  respect  by 
publicly  declaring  that  he  approves  of  or  desires  to 
profit  by  legislation  that  is  not  just.  This  being  true,  it 
must  be  conceded  that  if  pension  legislation  is  shown  to 
be  unjust  in  any  particular,  every  honorable  man  will 
desire  to  have  it  so  changed  that  it  will  conform  with 
the  requirements  of  economic  justice,  even  though  such 
change  may  deprive  him  of  a  benefit  which  he  has  been 
•  innocently  receiving  without  previous  knowledge  of  the 
injustice  of  the  law.  Any  man  who  will  not  agree  to 
this  proposition  will  publicly  acknowledge  himself  to  be 
willing  to  receive  that  to  which  he  has  no  claim  founded 
in  justice.  On  the  other  hand,  a  critical  examination  of 
pension  legislation  may  disclose  the  fact  that  some  are 
not  receiving  as  much  as  is  justly  due  them.  In  such  an 
event  the  people  are  expected  to  promptly  and  cheerfully 
pay  the  full  amount  that  economic  justice  may  show  to 
be  due  to  any  man,  no  matter  who  or  what  the  aggregate 
amount.  Those  who  object  to  doing  this  are  no  more 
worthy  of  respect  or  consideration  than  the  receivers  of 
benefits  to  which  they  are  not  justly  entitled.  The 
opinions  of  neither  of  these  classes  of  persons  should 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


have  any  weight  in  the  discussion  and  final  solution 
of  the  pension  question. 

A  just  pension  claim  must  be  founded  upon  two  facts: 

First.  That  a  required  piiblic  service  has  been  ren- 
dered. 

Second.  That  an  economic  loss  has  been  sustained  by 
reason  of  the  service  rendered,  and  that  an  honorable 
man  who  voluntarily  risked  his  life  in  the  defence  of  his 
country  is  unable  to  earn  a  comfortable  living. 

The  payment  demanded  by  a  pension  claim  is  an  eco- 
nomic consideration  and,  therefore,  the  justice  of  the 
claim  and  the  amount  that  should  be  paid,  are  questions 
of  fact  to  be  determined  by  the  usual  rules  of  evidence. 
Sentiments  of  sympathy  or  of  revenge  should  be  given 
no  place  in  the  consideration  of  pension  legislation. 
Sympathy  and  revenge  are  fundamentally  inadequate  to 
fully  realize  the  wish  of  those  who  employ  them.  No 
sympathy  is  so  completely  satisfying,  so  pregnant  with 
abundant  comfort,  so  devoid  of  all  constraint,  so  re- 
splendent with  happy  freedom  as  are  the  awards  of  jus- 
tice. No  revenge  is  so  completely  humiliating,  so  fruit- 
ful of  misery,  so  pungent  with  contempt,  so  pitiless  with 
enforced  confinement,  as  are  the  awards  of  justice.  This 
analysis  is  made  to  prevent  any  one  from  erroneously 
supposing  that  a  demand  for  justice  in  pension  legisla- 


ioo  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

tion  is  generated  by  a  spirit  of  antagonism  to  old  sol- 
diers. The  demand  is  for  the  punishment  of  frauds,  im- 
posters,  and  the  unworthy,  who  unblushingly  crowd 
themselves  into  the  places  of,  and  devour  the  substance 
that  rightfully  belongs  to,  others.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  those  who  pay,  are  as  entitled  to  justice  as 
those  who  receive.  The  pressure  for  "liberal  pensions" 
instead  of  for  just  pensions  does  not  fully  consider  this 
factor. 

Military  service  is  the  only  required  public  service  in 
connection  with  which  pension  claims  are  considered. 
In  the  United  States,  military  service  is  rarely  compul- 
sory. The  government  is  "of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people."  Under  such  a  government  the 
fundamental  law  of  self-preservation  makes  it  the  duty 
of  every  citizen  to  defend  the  authority  of  the  govern- 
ment. Whenever  the  Chief  Executive  lawfully  calls  for 
volunteers  for  this  purpose,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  able- 
bodied  man  to  voluntarily  offer  his  services.  It  is  the 
duty  of  one  man  no  more  than  the  duty  of  every  other 
man  instantly  to  respond  to  such  a  call.  This  being  the 
duty  of  every  man,  it  is  clear  that  no  man  can  justly 
claim  compensation  for  loyally  doing  his  duty.  When 
loyalty  has  to  be  bought,  it  has  no  existence.  To  claim 
payment  for  loyalty  transforms  the  patriot  into  a  merce- 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


nary.  It  is  also  clear  that  if,  in  such  an  emergency,  all 
men  should  withhold  their  services  until  they  could 
barter  for  bounties,  rates  of  compensation  and  terms  of 
future  rewards,  government  by  the  people  would  perish 
in  the  first  determined  attack  made  upon  it.  If  such  a 
government  secures  to  its  citizens  any  advantages,  in- 
dustrial, social  or  political,  that  are  worth  an  effort  on 
their  part  to  save  from  destruction,  it  is  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  these  benefits  that  they  contend,  not  for  the 
ascendancy  of  a  dynasty,  the  transmission  of  royal  titles 
or  the  glory  of  a  militajy  ruler.  In  this  respect,  volun- 
tary military  service  rendered  for  a  republic  is  essenti- 
ally different  in  character  from  military  service  rendered 
by  conscripts  for  a  monarch  or  an  emperor.  The  sac- 
rifices of  the  comforts,  society,  and  pursuits  of  civil  life 
for  the  discomforts,  sufferings  and  dangers  of  military 
life,  are  the  price  the  loyal  volunteer  pays  for  the  privilege 
of  being  a  sovereign  citizen.  By  such  sacrifices  this  high 
privilege  was  first  secured.  Civilization  will  falter  and 
fade  when  it  ceases  to  honor  the  men  who  mutually 
pledged  themselves  to  support  their  declaration  of 
American  independence  with  "  their  lives,  their  fortunes 
and  their  sacred  honor."  Those  who  inherited  the  gov- 
ernment so  founded  but  paid  their  debt  of  inheritance 
when  the  demand  came  to  them  to  maintain  its  au- 


102 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


thority,  and  they  in  turn,  pledged  to  its  defence  their 
lives,  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred  honor.  Of  such 
royal  blood  were  the  men  who  rushed  to  the  defense  of 
their  country,  as  call  succeeded  call,  giving  their  services 
without  hesitation,  without  bargaining  for  bounties, 
without  questioning  as  to  future  reward.  Patriotic  sons 
of  patriotic  sires,  upon  them  and  such  as  they,  the  hope 
of  freedom  for  all  men  depends.  They  are  the  ones  who 
to-day  stand  for  the  transmission  to  posterity  of  hon- 
orable services  untainted  by  greed  for  gain. 

All  men  cannot  be  employed  in  military  service, 
though  all  should  volunteer.  In  such  an  event  only  the 
required  number,  a  few  from  the  many,  can  be  accepted 
for  the  post  of  high  honor  and  personal  danger.  It  is 
this  selection  that  divides  society  into  two  classes,  those 
who  perform  military  service,  and  those  who  remain  in 
civil  life  and  there  sustain  the  burdens  and  improve  the 
opportunities  occasioned  by  war.  Without  a  word  of 
law,  without  a  written  or  spoken  promise,  based  on  the 
strong  and  broad  foundations  of  equity  and  justice,  it  is 
the  duty  of  those  who  represent  civil  life  to  make  good 
to  those  who  enter  military  life  any  economic  loss  they 
may  sustain  by  reason  of  such  services. 

Before  a  man  enters  the  service  he  stands  related  to 
all  others  by  certain  economic  conditions.  He  has  a  cer- 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


103 


tain  earning  capacity.  There  may  be  certain  persons 
who  may  be  depending  on  him  for  support.  His  eco- 
nomic prospects  are  equal  with  others  possessing  similar 
qualifications.  So  long  as  he  remains  in  civil  life  he  is 
bound  by  these  conditions  and  has  no  just  claim  upon 
the  government  for  any  preference  in  competition  with 
others  to  secure  economic  gains,  or  for  any  failure  on  his 
part  to  secure  a  full  share  of  such  gains  in  comparison 
with  the  share  secured  by  his  equals.  More  than  this,  it 
is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  use  every  means  at  his 
command,  to  provide  for  himself  and  those  dependent 
upon  him  and  not  to  be  a  voluntary  charge  upon  the  in- 
dustry of  others.  If  he  fails  to  do  his  duty  in  this  re- 
gard, society  justly  classes  and  treats  him  as  a  self-made 
pauper.  By  no  decree  of  jtistice  can  any  man  be  ab- 
solved from  the  performance  of  this  duty  to  himself  and 
to  society,  or  from  the  just  verdict  and  treatment  of 
society  in  case  of  failure,  on  the  plea  of  having  been  in 
the  military  service  of  his  country  for  a  few  years  or 
perhaps  only  a  few  months.  If  from  choice  he  contracts 
habits  and  conducts  himself  in  a  way  that  would  justify 
society  in  classing  and  dealing  with  him  as  a  pauper, 
had  he  never  been  in  military  service,  there  is  no  rule  of 
justice  by  which  the  fact  of  such  service  entitles  him  to 
any  different  consideration  for  his  delinquencies  of  char- 


IO4  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

acter  or  conduct.  The  truth  of  this  is  fully  attested  by 
the  fact  that  for  no  other  failure  to  observe  the  laws  of 
civil  life,  is  military  service  ever  placed  in  evidence  as 
an  extenuating  circumstance.  If  an  ex-soldier  commits 
a  robbery,  an  assault  or  a  murder;  if  he  executes  a 
forgery,  is  found  guilty  of  perjury,  or  fails  to  fulfill  his 
contracts,  the  fact  that  he  once  performed  a  military  ser- 
vice, no  matter  how  bravely  or  well,  is  of  no  avail  to  pro- 
tect him  from  the  just  judgments  of  the  law.  Why  then 
should  the  fact  of  such  service  in  any  way  shield  him 
from  the  consequences  of  the  just  judgments  of  economic 
law?  "  If  any  man  will  not  work,  neither  let  him  eat." 
Further  than  this,  why  should  the  fact  of  such  service 
shield  him  from  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  life  to  which 
all  men  in  common  are  subjected? 

The  duty  of  the  State  to  those  it  accepts  into  its  ser- 
vice to  defend  the  public  welfare,  is  in  its  turn  the  duty 
of  defending  the  individual  welfare  of  its  defenders. 
The  requirements  of  economic  justice  clearly  demand 
that  the  man  who  leaves  the  avocations  of  civil  life,  the 
peaceful  pursuit  of  economic  gains,  to  defend  the  public 
welfare  by  doing  military  duty,  shall  not  be  required  to 
do  so  at  his  own  economic  cost.  In  other  words,  those 
who  represent  civil  life  must  pay  those  who  perform 
military  service  sufficient  to  restore  the  economic  loss 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


105 


occasioned  by  reason  of  such  service.  This  is  the  stand- 
ard of  economic  justice.  This  is  the  basis  of  and  limits 
the  amount  of  any  pension  claim  that  can  be  justly 
made.  The  claim  must  be  for  economic  loss  sustained 
by  reason  of  military  service  rendered.  It  cannot  be  for 
having  been  loyal,  nor  for  having  rendered  an  arduous 
and  a  hazardous  service. 

Economic  gains  are  calculated  in  the  currency  of  the 
nation.  It  is  the  manner  in  which  they  are  obtained 
and  not  the  amount  of  the  gains  that  is  the  essential  con- 
sideration. No  economic  gains  can  be  justly  obtained 
that  are  not  honestly  earned.  To  earn  economic  gains 
honestly, requires  the  proper  use  of  every  earning  qualifi- 
cation and  the  improvement  of  every  opportunity  so  to 
use  them.  The  active  competition  of  man  with  man  for 
the  enjoyment  of  economic  gains  permits  no  shrinking. 
If  a  man  cannot  do  what  he  likes  best  to  do,  for  want  of 
opportunity,  he  is  compelled  by  the  unwritten  law  of 
necessity  to  do  what  he  can,  when  and  where  he  finds 
an  opportunity.  This  is  his  duty  to  himself  and  to  those 
who  are  dependent  upon  him.  A  man  who  has  per- 
formed military  service  is  in  no  way,  by  reason  of  such 
service,  relieved  from  this  duty.  If  he  cannot,  for  any 
reason,  after  re-entering  civil  life,  make  economic  gains 
in  the  ways  to  which  he  was  accustomed  before  entering 


I06  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


military  service,  such  a  fact  does  not  relieve  him  from 
his  duty  to  make  such  gains  in  any  way  he  honorably 
can.  If  he  shrinks  this  duty,  it  is  the  duty  of  society  to 
permit  him  to  suffer  the  penalty  for  shirking,  which  is  a 
diminished  share  of  economic  gains.  If  society  pursues 
any  other  course  it  will  commit  a  double  economic 
crime : — 

First.  By  rewarding  a  shirk  for  not  doing  his  duty. 

Second.  By  robbing  those  who  have  done  their  duty  to 
obtain  the  funds  with  which  to  pay  the  shirk. 

It  is  not  only  the  duty  of  a  man  to  earn  what  he  can  in 
the  best  way  he  can,  honestly  and  fairly,  it  is  also  his 
duty  to  use  what  he  earns  for  supplying  his  wants  and 
the  wants  of  those  rightfully  dependent  upon  him  and, 
beyond  this,  to  make  such  provision  as  he  may  for  safe- 
guarding himself  and  them  from  the  effects  of  the  declin- 
ing vigor  of  advancing  age  and  the  unforeseen  accidents 
and  vicissitudes  of  life.  He  has  no  right  to  squander  his 
earnings  in  dissipation,  on  games  of  chance  or  in  any 
other  ways  not  necessary  for  comfort,  well-being  and 
reasonable  enjoyment.  If  he  does  this,  he  by  so  doing 
reduces  his  economic  condition  to  the  same  status  it 
would  have  been  had  he  originally  shirked  the  duty  of 
earning  the  means  he  squandered.  To  protect  him  from 
the  evil  results  of  having  squandered  his  means  will  be 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


to  place  a  premium  upon  vice  and  reward  him  for  his 
dissolute  habits.  Neither  society  nor  the  man  can  afford 
to  ignore  the  natural  laws  of  morals  and  of  justice  by 
such  procedure.  "As  he  sows,  shall  he  reap." 

It  is  plain  that  the  only  claim  a  man  can  make  for 
compensation  from  the  State  is  for  an  economic  loss  sus- 
tained by  reason  of  a  military  service  rendered,  and  that 
this  loss  must  be  determined  by  the  standard  of  the 
amount  of  economic  gain  made  by  others  having  similar 
qualifications,  who  have  not  rendered  military  service. 
Such  a  loss  cannot  exist  if,  in  any  capacity,  public  or 
private,  the  claimant  has  or  is  offered  an  opportunity  to 
earn  in  any  way  an  income  equal  to  that  being  earned 
by  uninjured  persons  possessing  similar  qualifications. 
If,  having  an  opportunity  to  do  this,  he  refuses  to  do  it, 
he  forfeits  all  right  to  consideration.  Congress  has  no 
right  to  reward  him  for  shirking  his  duty  by  paying  him 
for  a  loss  self-imposed,  nor  to  rob  industrious  citizens  of 
a  portion  of  their  economic  gains  to  obtain  the  funds 
with  which  to  pay  the  claims  of  a  shirk.  Taxation  for 
the  payment  of  unjitst  claims  is  robbery. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  the  requirements  of  economic 
justice,  it  is  clearly  seen  that  the  first  condition  to  be 
created  by  pension  legislation  is  not  one  for  claiming 
payments  from  the  public,  but  the  organization  of  a 


loS  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

means  by  which  to  assist  ex-defenders  of  their  country 
in  obtaining  public  or  private  employment  the  compen- 
sation for  which  will  prevent  them  from  suffering  an 
economic  loss.  In  no  way  is  it  possible  for  public  or 
private  employers  to  show  respect  for  those  who  volun- 
teered to  defend  the  nation  in  its  hour  of  peril  in  a  more 
acceptable  manner  than,  when  choosing  a  person  to  per- 
form a  service,  to  give  the  preference,  all  other  con- 
siderations being  equal,  to  the  one  who  volunteered  to 
defend  the  authority  of  the  Government  when  others 
remained  in  civil  life.  Such  a  preference  can  be  ac- 
cepted with  honor  by  any  ex-soldier  or  sailor.  To  any 
honorable  man  an  opportunity  to  render  a  useful  service 
which  he  can  perform,  the  pay  for  which  will  support 
him  in  comfort,  is  infinitely  preferable  to  receiving  the 
same  amount  of  income  without  giving  an  equivalent  for 
it  in  such  services  as  he  can  render. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  touching  the  enormous 
number  of  pension  claims  that  have  been  filed.  From 
force  of  numbers  they  tend  to  create  the  impression  that 
all  ex-soldiers  and  ex-sailors  have  fallen  from  their  high 
position  of  honor  as  patriots  to  the  ignoble  position  of 
disgrace,  as  mercenaries.  This  forces  the  statement 
that  all  men  who  entered  the  Union  Armies  were  not 
patriots,  nor  men  of  high  character.  The  men  who  first 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


109 


entered  the  service,  who  loyally  responded  to  the  first 
calls  for  volunteers,  represented  the  best  blood  and 
brains  of  this  country.  Those  are  the  men  who  received 
no  bounties  for  enlisting ;  those  are  the  men  who  saw 
most  service  and  who  did  the  fighting ;  they  are  the  men 
who  are  now  opposing  the  disgraceful  corruption  that  is 
engendered  by  the  present  pension  laws;  they  are  the 
men  who  are  demanding  that  the  stench  and  stain  of 
mercenary  greed  shall  be  wiped  out  before  it  shrouds  the 
honor  and  glory  of  their  services,  in  the  memory  of  the 
new  generation  to  whom  the  war  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  is  but  history ;  they  are  the  men  who  wish  to 
let  the  world  know  before  they  pass  out  of  it,  that  all 
ex-soldiers  and  ex-sailors  are  not  mercenaries,  but  that 
some  served  the  Government  because  of  their  love  for  it. 
They  are  noble ,  generous,  honorable  men.  While  they 
scorn  with  a  contempt  that  none  but  brave  and  honor- 
able men  can  feel,  the  hideous  and  shameless  creatures 
who  mouth  their  claims  for  pay  and  filch  by  fraud  from 
a  treasury  opened  with  a  free  hand  by  a  generous  people 
for  the  deserving,  they  demand  for  every  worthy  com- 
rade  full  compensation  for  the  economic  loss  he  may 
have  sustained.  They  demand  that  the  people  of  this 
country  shall  cease  to  support  shirks  and  greed-destroyed 
manhood,  in  the  name  of  gratitude  to  the  country's  de- 
fenders. 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


The  men  who  enlisted  under  the  first  calls,  before 
bounties  were  paid,  and  who  served  all  through  the  war 
are  placed,  by  the  pension  legislation  now  in  force  and 
as  the  laws  are  construed,  on  a  par  or  at  a  disadvantage 
with  the  men  who  enlisted  for  bounties  of  from  $1,000  to 
$1,500,  during  the  last  six  months  of  the  war,  many  of 
whom  were  not  assigned  to  regiments  for  more  than 
ninety  days,  and  some  of  whom  never  left  their  States 
nor  saw  real  military  service  of  any  kind.  It  is  from 
this  class  of  men,  from  the  ranks  of  those  who  received 
bounties  when  they  enlisted,  who  had  their  greedy  appe- 
tites sharpened  by  the  money  that  came  to  them  so  easily 
before  doing  service,  that  this  heartless  plunder  of  the 
people  comes.  If  equity  and  honor  could  rule  in  the 
administration  of  pension  laws,  this  class  of  claimants 
wound  be  made  to  understand  that  they  could  not  re- 
ceive more  than  their  betters,  and  that  when  they  filed 
claims  for  pensions  the  bounties  they  have  received  will  be 
construed  as  liquidated  benefits  and  no  further  payments 
be  made  until  their  claims,  at  the  rates  allowed  them, 
exceeded  the  amount  already  paid  them  as  bounties.  In 
this  way  some  approach  might  be  made  to  establishing 
equitable  compensation  between  those  who  were  the  first 
to  enlist,  who  received  no  bounties,  and  those  who  were 
the  last  to  enlist  and  received  enormous  bounties.  As 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


the  adjustment  is  now  being  made,  compensation  in- 
creases as  the  value  of  the  service  decreases. 

To  determine  the  amount  of  an  economic  loss  is  a 
judicial  function.  It  is  an  absurdity  to  classify  disabili- 
ties and  then  to  enact  that  all  men  who  can  prove  that 
they  are  suffering  from  a  specified  disability  shall  re- 
ceive the  same  payment,  regardless  of  the  fact  whether 
or  not  the  disability  named  necessarily  caused  the 
claimant  to  sustain  any  economic  loss  whatever.  To 
illustrate :  a  bullet  wound  .in  my  right  lung  incapacitates 
me  for  earning  my  living  by  manual  labor.  The  law  as 
it  now  stands  gives  me  a  pension.  The  wound,  how- 
ever, does  not  incapacitate  me  for  earning  my  living, 
nor  does  it  prevent  me  from  obtaining  a  good  deal  better 
living  than  I  could  obtain  by  manual  labor  if  absolutely 
uninjured.  Another  man  who  was  and  is  a  manual 
laborer,  and  who  may  have  received  a  wound  of  identi- 
cally the  same  character  as  my  own,  would  have  his 
means  of  earning  a  living  almost,  if  not  completely,  de- 
stroyed by  it.  In  my  case  the  economic  loss  is  nothing. 
In  his  case  the  economic  loss  is  his  entire  earning 
capacity,  say,  $40  per  month.  The  law  as  it  now  stands 
gives  me  $10  per  month  and  of  course,  gives  him  the 
same.  If  it  is  true  that  his  earning  capacity  is  entirely 
destroyed,  the  $10  per  month  is  not  sufficient  to  support 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


him.  Instead  of  providing  tor  him  properly  and  giving 
me  nothing,  the  law  makes  him  a  pauper  and  gives  me  a 
little  stipend  which  I  could  manage  to  live  without.  The 
principle  I  contend  is,  that  economic  loss  is  the  only 
thing  to  be  paid  for.  That  principle  applied  to  this  case 
would  award  me  nothing  but  it  would  give  my  less 
fortunate  comrade  $40  per  month,  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  live  in  comfort  and  with  honorable  self-respect  as 
long  as  the  Lord  will  permit  him  to  illustrate  to  his  circle 
of  friends  the  saying  that  ought  to  be  true  ' '  that  he  who 
feared  not  to  lose  his  life  shall  find  it,"  and  of  equally 
deep  importance,  to  show  that  Republics  are  not  only 
not  ungenerous  but  know  how  to  be,  and  are,  just. 

If  the  principle  of  compensation  for  economic  loss  sus- 
tained and  full  payment  for  such  loss  when  sustained,  is 
established  and  strictly  applied  to  all  now  receiving  pen- 
sions and  to  all  applications  that  are  or  may  be  hereafter 
placed  on  file,  the  veterans  of  the  loyal  Army  and  Navy 
would  be  relieved  from  association  with  a  horde  of  claim- 
ants who  gloat  over  their  success  in  getting  money  out  of 
the  public  treasury  to  which  they  know  they  are  not 
justly  entitled.  Under  this  rule  no  money  would  be 
paid  to  any  ex-defender  of  his  country  who  is  not  in 
need,  or  who,  being  in  need,  can  be  relieved  by  being  furn- 
ished with  employment  the  duties  of  which  he  can  per- 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


form.  No  money  would  be  paid  to  any  person  as  a  de- 
pendent upon  an  ex-soldier  or  sailor,  who  was  not  so  de- 
pendent during  the  term  of  his  enlistment,  or  became  so 
within  five  years  after  his  final  muster-out,  or  to  a  de- 
pendent who  is  not  in  need.  On  the  other  hand  there 
are  many,  but  probably  not  as  many  as  may  be  supposed 
who  would  have  their  pensions  largely  increased.  Out 
of  a  total  of  520,158  pension  certificates]  in  force,  for 
the  war  of  1861,  but  3,161  are  classed  as  totally  disabled."' 
If  the  whole  number  of  totally  disabled  should  be  paid 
four  times  as  much  as  they  now  receive,  and  all  others 
were  cut  off  or  reduced  as  indicated,  the  total  annual 
amount  required  for  pensions  will  be  so  small,  in  com- 
parison with  the  enormous  amount  now  being  expended, 
it  will  become  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  age  how  an  intell- 
igent people  ever  permitted  themselves  to  be  so  imposed 
upon,  or  how  they  rested  quietly  under  the  extortion 
when  once  it  was  shown  to  them. 

If  pension  legislation  is  revised  on  the  lines  herein 
indicated  the  entire  system  of  administration  will  have 
to  be  remodeled  for  the  purpose  of  properly  carrying  the 
provisions  of  the  new  law  into  effect.  To  determine  the 
amount  of  necessary  economic  loss  for  which  payment 
may  be  justly  claimed,  it  will  be  necessary  to  appoint  a 

*Report  Commissioner  of  Pensions.  Fiscal  year  ending  June 
30,  1891. 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


Commissioner  of  Pensions  for  each  State  and  to  organize 
a  Court  of  Pension  Equity  to  review  the  evidence  that 
may  be  submitted  to  it  by  the  State  Commissioner.  The 
first  item  in  such  evidence  will  always  be  the  certificate 
that,  on  account  of  injuries  received  in  the  line  of  duty, 
while  in  the  Military  or  Naval  service  of  the  United 
States;  the  applicant  is  unable  to  perform  any  service  in 
public  or  private  employment,  the  pay  for  which  is  equal 
in  amount  to  the  pay  received  by  uninjured  persons  pos- 
sessing similar  qualifications,  and  is  dependent  upon  his 
own  labor  for  support.  To  obtain  such  information  the 
Commissioner  should  find  by  public  advertisement  per- 
sons acquainted  with  the  facts  and  request  them  to  com- 
municate to  him  the  knowledge  they  possess.  With 
such  information  to  review,  it  will  not  be  difficult  for  a 
Court  of  Pension  Equity  speedily  to  dispose  of  the  cases 
that  may  be  brought  before  it  and  to  do  substantial 
justice  in  each.  Such  a  system  will  relieve  the  honest 
claimant  from  the  necessity  of  employing  an  attorney,  or 
worse  still,  from  seeking  political  influence  as  a  means 
of  obtaining  that  which  is  justly  and  honorably  his  due. 
vSuch  a  system  will  shield  millionaires,  bankers,  mer- 
chants, professional  men,  well-to-do  farmers  and  artisans 
from  the  sophistries  of  claim  agents  who  tempt  them  to 
make  claims  under  "the  manual  labor"  clause  of  the  law, 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


which,  unsolicited  they  would  never  file.  Such  a  system 
will  purge  the  pension  roll  of  every  undeserving  name. 
To  the  deserving  the  people  stand  ready  to  pay,  with 
gratitude  and  blessing,  every  dollar  that  is  their  due. 

Let  the  necessary  legislation  be  enacted  to  carry  into 
full  effect  the  system  indicated  and  the  millions  of  claims 
allowed  and  pending  that  are  now  centralized  at  Wash- 
ington, can  be  quickly  scattered  among  the  States  from 
which  they  emanated,  and  the  work  on  the  part  of  each 
claimant,  to  show  that  his  claim  is  for  an  economic  loss, 
as  well  as  to  the  extent  or  nature  of  it,  can  be  quickly 
done.  Challenged  to  substantiate  their  claims  on  this 
basis,  not  more  than  one-quarter  of  the  claims  will  be 
refiled  with  the  State  Commissioner.  The  annual  appro- 
priations for  pensions  will  be  reduced  to  below  fifty  mill- 
ions of  dollars,  and,  of  still  greater  importance,  the  fol- 
lowing affirmations,  honorable  to  the  characters,  energy 
and  intelligence  of  the  men  who  composed  the  volunteer 
Military  and  Naval  forces  of  the  United  States  during 
the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  can  be  veri- 
fied:— 

First.  While  the  associations  and  temptations  of  life 
in  the  Volunteer  Army  and  Navy  differed  from  those  of 
civil  life,  there  were  more  influences  to  rouse  into  ener- 
getic action  the  good  than  to  call  out  the  evil  in  men's 


TI6  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

characters.  That  some  men  yielded  their  manhood  to 
temptation  is  true,  but  the  number  of  those  so  yielding 
was  not  a  greater  proportion  to  the  whole  number  en- 
gaged, than  the  number  of  those  who  yield  their  man- 
hood to  the  temptations  of  civil  life  is  to  the  whole  popu- 
lation. It  should  be  known  to  all  now  living,  while  the 
fact  can  be  verified,  that  it  may  'be  appreciated  and  by 
them  taught  to  posterity,  that  the  conditions,  associations 
and  influences  under  which  the  volunteers  of  1861-65 
served  their  country,  did  not  render  it  necessary  for  any 
man  to  lower  his  moral  standard  or  to  contract  habits 
of  vice. 

Second.  Every  comrade  of  the  campaign  can  attest 
that  good  character  was  as  necessary  a  qualification  for 
a  good  soldier  as  it  is  for  a  good  citizen,  and  that  victo- 
ries were  won  by  men  of  intelligence  and  honest  worth, 
not  by  the  ignorant  and  morally  defective.  The  weak- 
ness of  every  company,  regiment,  battery  and  division 
was  in  the  shirks,  cowards,  vice-destroyed  men  who  en- 
cumbered its  muster  rolls,  devoured  its  substance,  and 
crowded  honestly  disabled  men  out  of  its  hospitals. 
Such  are  the  men  who  to-day  do  not  hesitate  to  live  on 
the  gratitude  of  a  generous  people  through  payments 
made  on  pensions  obtained  by  legalized  fraud  and  at 
the  expense  of  public  and  private  morality.  Men  of  the 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


same  type  are  to-day  the  leeches  and  evil-doers  of  soci- 
ety. 

Third.  The  men  who  had  the  intelligence,  courage, 
and  persistent  energy  to  win  victories  on  battle  fields,  by 
virtue  of  these  same  qualities  of  character  are  able  to 
compete  successfully  for  the  economic  gains  of  civil  life 
with  those  who  did  not  enter  the  service.  This  fact  is 
proven  by  their  present  characters  and  attainments. 
Many  who  sustained  severe  wounds,  and  almost  all  who 
retained  their  health,  suffered  no  impairment  of  their 
ability  to  care  for  and  support  themselves  and  families. 
Multitudes  of  them  have  no  more  thought  of  shirking 
this  duty  now,  than  they  had  of  shirking  their  duty  when 
at  the  post  of  danger.  These  are  the  men  who  demand 
that  pension  legislation  and  administration  shall  be  so 
changed  as  to  permit  it  to  be  known  that  loyal  volunteers 
are  still  patriots,  self-respecting  and  self-supporting. 
The  character  of  a  vast  majority  of  the  loyal  volunteers 
of  1861-65  is  the  sacred  heritage  of  the  manhood  and 
womanhood  that  inspired  and  sustained  them.  This 
manhood  and  womanhood  is  the  peculiar  product  and 
glory  of  American  independence  and  American  institu- 
tions. It  should  be  transmitted  untarnished,  an  inheri- 
tance of  nobility  for  posterity. 

In  April,  1889,   I  wrote  a  paper  on  the  pension  quest- 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


ion  under  the  title  of  '  'The  Duty  and  Reward  of  Loyal- 
ty," in  which  the  following  occurs:  — 

The  loyal  volunteer  sacrificed  the  hopes  and  oppor- 
tunities of  civil  life  in  the  flower  of  his  youth.  He  gave 
to  the  civilian,  opportunities,  and  defended  him  in  his 
enjoyment  of  them. 

The  loyal  volunteer  tempered  justice  with  mercy,  as 
was  never  before  done.  He  set  an  example  for  all  the 
world  ;  yes,  to  heaven  itself,  of  generosity  in  the  hour  of 
triumph.  He  made  no  attempt,  nor  has  he  ever  at- 
tempted, in  any  way,  to  degrade,  disgrace,  or  impover- 
ish the  vanquished.  Without  restraint  or  molestation, 
the  defeated  were  allowed  to  return  to  their  homes  and 
recommence  all  vocations  of  peace.  All  they  ever  had 
was  still  theirs  except  that  which  was  destroyed  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  a  war  of  their  own  creating.  As  a 

result,  hate  has  been  overcome  with  kindness.     The  right 

t 
hand  of  fellowship   has  been   extended   and  accepted. 

We  are  one  people. 

Let  the  world  admire  the  volunteer's  loyalty  and  cour- 
age as  much  as  it  justly  may  ;  incomparably  more  admira- 
able  is  the  noble  generosity  with  which  he  presented  to 
the  people  of  the  North  and  the  South  the  fruits  of  his 
victories,  content  to  keep  for  himself  but  his  battle-flags 
and  his  scars. 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


119 


The  loyal  volunteer  has  performed  his  duty  of  loyalty 
and  earned  his  rank  of  nobility.  It  remains  for  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Nation  to  rightly  perform  their  duty  of  grati- 
tude and  earn  their  rank  of  nobility.  The  obligation  of 
the  people  of  the  North  and  of  the  South,  though  spring- 
ing from  different  causes,  unites  in  the  same  issue,  a  debt 
.  of  gratitude  due  from  them  to  the  Nation's  defenders. 
Let  those  who  pay  this  debt  make  honorable  acknowledge- 
ment of  the  fact  that  such  payment,  in  the  truest  sense, 
is  an  act  of  justice  due  to  their  owrn  honor,  not  a  com- 
pensation for  the  loyalty  of  others. 

To  place  this  subject  in  a  true  light,  all  phrases  about 
recompense  for  privations,  compensations  for  hardships, 
remunerations  for  dangers  encountered,  rewards  for  loy- 
alty, must  be  discarded.  With  these  sophisms  cleared 
away,  the  true  principles  involved  appear. 

The  loyal  volunteer  did  his  duty  when  loyalty  required 
courage  and  sacrifice.  He  was  generous  when  generosi- 
ty required  a  high  sense  of  honor  and  self-denial.  They 
show  small  appreciation  of  the  true  factors  in  the  prob- 
lem who  talk  about  placing  a  valuation  on  these  qualities 
of  character  as  though  they  could  be  made  marketable 
commodities.  Do  they  not  know  that  virtue  is  forever  de- 
stroyed when  a  price  is  set  upon  it?  Do  they  not  know 
that  loyalty  paid  for  transforms  the  hero  into  a  merce- 
nary? 


120  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

One  gain  that  must  be  made  is  the  teaching  of  the 
lesson  that  the  duty  of  loyalty  and  the  duty  of  gratitude 
are  moral  obligations,  virtues  of  moral  excellence,  and 
for  that  reason  they  cannot  be  coined  into  money  nor 
paid  for  in  dollars. 

HOW  THE  DEBT  SHOULD  BE  PAID. 

The  debt  to  be  paid  is  for  impairment  of  earning  ca- 
pacity, not  for  duty  done. 

No  one,  more  especially  an  honorable  soldier,  will 
claim  that  a  few  years  of  military  service  absolved  any 
one  from  the  duty  of  subsequently  earning  his  own  living 
by  honest  work.  If  any  are  sufficiently  dishonorable  to 
make  such  a  demand,  that  moral  deficiency  of  character 
should  not  be  allowed  to  disgrace  their  more  honorable 
comrades  nor  to  find  a  cash  value. 

The  discharged  soldier  should  be  made  good  to  him- 
self, and  those  immediately  dependent  upon  his  labor, 
for  any  impairment  of  his  earning  capacity  that  he  may 
have  received  by  reason  of  his  service.  The  fullest  pos- 
sible compensation  will  be  given  him  when  he  is  pro- 
vided with  employment,  the  pay  for  which  is  equal  to  his 
normal  earning  capacity.  For  this  reason,  all  persons 
who  have  an  equitable  claim  to  compensation  for  impair- 
ment of  earning  capacity  should  be  given  the  preference, 
all  other  considerations  being  equal,  for  employment  in 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


any  public  or  private  situation,  the  duties  of  which  they 
are  capable  to  perform.  While  so  employed  and  in  the 
receipt  of  fidl  pay  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  draw 
pension  payments, 

Such  a  preference  is  an  honorable  distinction.  To  any 
honorable  man  an  opportunity  to  perform  helpful  service 
and  earn  full  pay  is  infinitely  more  acceptable  than  to 
receive  a  small  gratuity  without  employment. 

The  soldier  who  is  capable  of,  and  is  earning  a  re- 
spectable living,  has  no  right  to  a  pension,  because  he 
has  suffered  no  impairment  of  earning  capacity. 

The  ex-soldier  who  has  suffered  such  an  impairment  and 
is  therefore  incapable  of  earning,  in  any  situation  that 
maybe  found  for  him,  a  respectable  living,  should  be  paid 
enough  to  support  him  in  comfort,  not  pauperized  by  a 
stipend  too  small  to  satisfy  his  necessities. 

If  impairment  of  earning  capacity  is  the  only  thing 
paid  for,  and  if  the  payment  is  made  only  when  the 
beneficiary  can  not  be  provided  for  with  public  or  pri- 
vate employment  that  will  enable  him  to  earn  an  honest 
and  respectable  living,  the  amount  required  for  such 
pensions  will  not  burden  the  resources  of  the  country. 
The  payment  of  such  pensions  will  be  made  with  infi- 
nite satisfaction  by  the  people,  and  the  amount  received 
will  maintain  in  comfort  and  independent  self-respect 
every  unfortunate  ex-soldier. 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


The  initial  error  was  made  when  the  principle  of  pay- 
ment was  based  on  duty  performed  instead  of  loss  sus- 
tained. Basing  the  claim  on  duty  performed,  opened  the 
way  for  claiming  compensation  from  date  of  discharge 
and  for  the  payment  of  pensions  to  those  who  have  suf- 
fered no  impairment  of  earning  capacity.  Payments  on 
such  a  basis  have  gradually  dulled  the  sense  of  honor  of 
thousands  to  whom  it  would  otherwise  have  never  oc- 
curred that  their  loyalty  was  a  quality  of  character  to  be 
valued  and  paid  for  in  cash.  Such  a  basis  for  payment 
has  stimulated  the  cupidity  and  greed  of  the  dishonor- 
able ;  and  the  payments  have  been  received  as  a  gratuity 
by  the  unthinking  who  look  upon  what  they  receive  from 
the  Government  as  a  free  gift,  that  costs  no  one  any- 
thing, like  a  refreshing  shower  in  a  season  of  drought. 

The  influence  of  payments  made  on  the  basis  of  duty 
performed,  or  as  a  reward  for  loyalty,  has  sapped  the 
foundations  of  honor  in  the  minds  of  thousands  until 
they  think  it  right  that  the  industries  and  the  wage- 
workers  of  the  country  should  be  taxed  for  their  support. 
It  has  made  them  dishonest  enough  to  be  willing  to  re- 
ceive that  which  they  have  not  earned,  to  take  by  process 
of  law  a  portion  of  the  earnings  of  others  and  convert  it 
to  their  own  use.  More  than  this,  it  has  compelled  them 
to  rob  their  disabled  comrades,  through  imperfect  pro- 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


123 


vision  for  their  needs,  leaving  them  crippled  and  help- 
less, to  wage  the  struggle  of  life  as  best  they  can  and 
perish  when  they  must. 

As  a  result  of  such  payments,  old  soldiers  who  need  a 
full  support  receive  only  a  small  pittance,  totally  inade- 
quate to  support  them,  wh  ile  untold  millions  are  paid  to 
those  who  are  perfe  ctly  able  to  support  themselves. 

To  meet  payments  that  satisfy  no  claim  of  justice  or 
honor,  but  represent  bribes  sought  and  bribes  paid  for 
votes,  the  indu  stries  of  the  country  have  been  burdened 
with  war  taxes  during  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  peace. 
This  burden  is  an  econo}n  ic  crime. 

Beyond  all  this,  the  manner  in  which  pensions  are  pro  - 
cured,  and  the  imp  lied  degradation  of  the  spirit  of  loyalty 
involved  in  the  enactment  of  pension  laws,  have  rendered 
a  pension  a  mark  of  disgrace  instead  of  a  badge  of  honor 
for  the  Loyal  Volunteer. 

THE   REMEDY. 

Thirty  years  ago,  responding  to  the  duty  of  loyalty, 
volunteers  rescued  the  Nation  from  destruction  by  force. 
To-day,  responding  to  the  duty  of  loyalty,  volunteers 
must  rescue  the  Nation  from  destruction  by  dishonesty. 
All  old  soldiers  who  respect  themselves  and  honor  their 
comrades, whose  sympathetic  demand  for  the  unfortunate 
is  that  they  shall  be  shielded  from  all  want,  whose  love 


124 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


for  the  old  flag  makes  tlje  prosperity  of  the  Nation  dear 
to  their  hearts,  must  muster  and  demand  that  the  pen- 
sion laws  be  revised  on  the  basis  of  payment  for  impair- 
ment of  earning  capacity,  and  that  such  payment  be 
made  only  when  the  beneficiary  is  incapable  of  earning 
a  respectable  living  or  can  find  no  opportunity  of  so 
doing. 

Further,  that  a  diploma,  or  medal,  showing  the  service 
of  every  loyal  soldier  or  sailor,  be  prepared  and  furnished 
to  those  entitled  to  the  same,  and  that  it  be  made  the 
rule  of  employment,  public  and  private,  that  preference 
shall  invariably  be  given  to  those  so  honored. 

Let  those  who  are  in  need,  be  fully  cared  for.  Let 
those  not  in  need  enjoy  an  honorable  distinction  and 
preference  in  the  opportunities  of  life. 

Since  this  was  written  the  Act  of  June  27,  1890,  has  be- 
come a  law,  and  has  proven  how  far  wrong  it  is  possible 
for  legislation  to  go  when  once  started  in  that  direction. 
On  May  28,  1893,  it  was  announced  by  the  public  press 
that  the  decision  in  the  case  of  Charles  T.  Bennett,  late 
private,  Company  F,  Thirteenth  Indiana  Volunteers,  will, 
it  is  believed,  by  those  high  in  authority  in  the  Pension 
Bureau,  reduce  the  payments  of  pensions  under  the  Act 
of  June  27,  1890,  between  $15,000,000  and  $20,000,000. 
What  better  confirmation  need  be  asked  of  the  correct- 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION.  i2c 

ness  of  the  position  that  I  took  in  1889  and  have  since 
maintained,  that  the  initial  error  was  made  when  the 
principle  of  payment  was  based  on  duty  performed  in- 
stead of  loss  sustained.  The  fundamental  error  of  bas- 
ing payment  on  inability  to  earn  a  living  by  manual 
labor  is  still  in  the  law  of  June  27,  1890.  This  defect 
cannot  be  removed  by  a  decision  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  nor  by  an  order  of  the  Commissioner  of  Pen- 
sions. //  must  be  removed  by  Act  of  Congress.  When 
this  defect  is  eliminated  from  pension  legislation,  pay- 
ments for  pensions  will  fall  below  $50,000,000.  Over 
$100,000,000  annually  are  now  being  paid  on  pension 
claims  that  have  no  foundation  injustice  or  honor.  This 
change  can  now  be  effected,  not  in  opposition  to  but  in 
conformity  with  the  honest  wish  of  the  living  ex-soldiers 
and  sailors  who  enlisted  without  being  bribed  by  boun- 
ties. 

The  Volunteer  Armies  and  Navies  of  1861-65  were  not 
composed  of  manual  laborers  as  the  armies  of  Europe 
may  be.  They  were  composed  of  loyal  citizens  from 
every  calling  and  vocation  of  life.  The  manual  labor 
clause  in  pension  legislation  is  an  insult  to  their  intelli- 
gence. Its  presence  there  strips  the  mask  of  pretence 
from  all  politicians  who  claim  that  they  have  enacted 
pension  legislation  in  order  rightly  to  honor  ex-soldiers 


I26  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

and  sailors  and  properly  to  reward  them.  Their  enact- 
ments degrade  every  intelligent  man  who  ever  wore  the 
United  States  uniform.  The  manual  labor  clause  was 
placed  in  pension  legislation  to  enable  pension  attorneys 
to  cater  to  the  unthinking,  the  greedy  and  the  corrupt ; 
and  as  a  vote-winning  favor  to  the  uneducated.  The 
veterans  now  living — the  vast  and  ruling  majority  of 
them — were  not  manual  laborers  before  the  war,  they 
are  not  manual  laborers  now.  Is  there  not  a  sense  of  the 
respect  and  justice  due  them,  strong  enough  to  wipe  out 
this  iniquity? 

The  taking  of  nearly  one-half  of  the  entire  public  reve- 
nue for  distribution  as  legal  prize  money,  among  those 
who  could  not  have  been  made  soldiers  in  any  war  for  a 
cause  that  was  not  held  by  them  to  be  sacred,  in  a  vain 
attempt  to  bribe  them  to  support  the  politicians  who  voted 
for  the  bribe,  grave  as  it  may  be  as  an  exhibition  of  po- 
litical corruption,  has  not  proven  a  real  danger  to  a  Re- 
public whose  people  are  sufficiently  intelligent  to  think, 
and  sufficiently  free  to  act  for  themselves. 

THE    GRAND    ARMY    OF    THE    REPUBLIC   VINDICATED. 

An  incident  which  has  passed  almost  wholly  unnoticed, 
occurred  in  Washington  during  "Grand  Army  Week" 
(September,  1892).  The  Pension  Office  was  then  used 
as  an  agency  for  the  distribution  within  its  walls  to 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


127 


the  noble  Army  of  visiting  veterans  then  assembled  in 
Washington,  of  a  circular  designed  to  impress  upon  each 
and  every  one  the  contrast  in  friendliness  to  ex-soldiers 
and  sailors  as  shown  by  the  work  and  disbursements  of 
the  Pension  Office  during  the  first  three  years  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland's  administration,  and  the  first  three  years 
of  President  Harrison's  administration. 

To  claim  credit,  as  is  done  in  this  circular,*  for  cutting 
down  the  "average  cost  in  salaries  for  issuing  each  certifi- 
cate" from  $24. 24  to  $i  1. 10,  while  the  '  *  total  certificates  is- 
sued" increased  from  334, 407  to  759,603,  and  the"  amount 
disbursed  for  pensions"  increased  from  $237,685,704. 77  to 
$361,064,778.46,  is  such  a  stupendous  exhibition  of  failure 
to  credit  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic — the  honest 
men  in  the  ranks — with  ordinary  intelligence,  it  is  no 
wonder  they  silently  return  to  their  homes  and  that  the 
then  Pension  Commissioner  was  promptly  voted  out  of 
office.  Either  party  is  now  free  to  initiate  measures  of 
pension  reform,  since  it  has  been  proven  that  the  party 
claiming  the  credit  (?)  of  the  legislation  which  has  resulted 
in  placing  such  unprecedented  burdens  upon  the  people, 
and  in  bringing  the  blush  of  shame  to  everv  battle-scarred 
patriot,  cannot  control  sufficient  votes  to  hold  power. 
This  demonstration  ought  to  satisfy  all  manipulators  of 

*  For  the  full  text  see  Pension  Office  circular  giving  compara- 
tive statement,  June,  1892. 


1 28  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

party  machinery  that  a  people  who  think  for  themselves 
will  act  for  themselves. 

My  object  in  discussing  this  question  is  to  contribute 
what  I  can  to  the  rescue  of  the  nation  from  a  cause  of 
frightful  corruption  and  unsound  economic  teachings, 
and  to  relieve  ex-defenders  of  their  country  from  the 
mercenary  stain  that  has  been  thrust  upon  them  by  a 
combination  of  the  improperly  educated,  the  greedy  and 
the  unscrupulous ;  interested  claim  agents  and  designing 
politicians. 

"  Liberal  pensions,"  "generous  pensions,"  are  always 
unjust  pensions.  Those  who  vote  such  pensions  are  lib- 
eral or  generous  with  other  people1  s  money,  which  is  dis- 
honest ;  and  their  liberality  or  generosity  has  for  its  ini- 
tial reason  some  expected  personal  or  party  profit,  some 
political  consideration  other  than  the  services  rendered 
and  losses  already  sustained.  This  is  political  corruption 
of  the  basest  sort.  To  vote  "liberal  pensions,"  in  the 
name  of  gratitude  to  those  who  risked  their  lives  in  de- 
fense of  their  country,  not  for  the  purpose  of  paying  a 
just  debt,  but  to  gain  or  perpetuate  political  power,  is  the 
most  dangerous  form  of  corruption  to  which  a  popular 
government  can  be  submitted.  This  form  of  corruption 
does  not  hesitate,  by  subtle  reasoning,  to  seek  to  dethrone 
the  honesty  of  the  masses  by  appealing  to  their  popular 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


129 


prejudices.  Those  who  favor  ''liberal  pensions,"  know- 
ingly or  by  delusion,  tell  how  much  has  been  paid  to 
bondholders  for  principal  and  interest  on  the  National 
debt,  how  the  wealth  of  the  country  is  increasing,  how 
small  the  amount  required  for  pensions  really  is,  in  com- 
parison with  debt  payments  and  the  ability  of  the  coun- 
try to  pay.  By  this  subtle  reasoning  it  is  attempted  to 
be  shown  that,  because  a  just  debt  has  been  or  is  being 
paid,  an  unjust  pension  claim  should  be  paid.  Such  rea- 
soning is  not  creditable  to  the  intelligence  nor  the  hon- 
esty of  those  who  use  it.  What  has  been  done  with  any 
other  class  of  creditors,  what  the  ability  of  the  people 
may  be  to  make  payment,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  jus- 
tice of  nor  the  amount  of  a  pension  claim.  If  it  is  desir- 
able to  further  illustrate  the  sophistry  that  has  led  to  cor- 
rupt pension  legislation,  it  is  only  necessary  to  direct 
attention  to  the  praise  lavished  on  ex-soldiers.  In  the 
same  address  claiming  their  right  to  "liberal  pensions" 
because  the  Government  has  paid  the  principal  and  in- 
terest of  its  debts,  and  because  the  country  is  wealthy 
and  can  pay,  the  world  is  told  that  ex-soldiers  have,  ' '  by 
their  peaceful  industry,  contributed  to  the  public  wealth 
as  much  as  any  equal  number  of  citizens."  If  this  be 
true,  and  I  claim  that  it  is,  then  their  earning  capacity 
was  not  impaired,  considered  as  a  whole,  by  their  army 


130 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


service,  and  claims  for  pensions  as  a  logical  sequence  can 
have  no  basis  in  economic  justice.  The  logic  of  the  af- 
firmation of  the  value  of  the  ex-soldier  as  a  citizen,  de- 
stroys absolutely  all  the  claims  that  pension  legislation 
as  it  now  stands  has  any  just  foundation  for  its  enact- 
ment, or  for  the  methods  of  its  administration.  My 
contention  is  for  justice  for  every  ex-soldier,  and 
for  proper  compensation  for  economic  loss  sustained, 
independent  of  any  question  of  other  debt  payment,  party 
exigency,  inequitable  sentiment,  or  the  condition  of  the 
Treasury.  '  *  Liberality, "  "  generosity, "  in  this  case  have 
become  synonymous  with  corruption  and  fraud.  This  is 
proven  by  the  fact  that  the  ex-soldier  who  is  the  recipi- 
ent of  a  pension,  is  at  once  branded  as  ungrateful,  if  he 
votes  against  those  who  are  "liberal"  and  "generous" 
with  other  people's  money  for  his  benefit.  The  payment 
of  a  just  pension  places  the  recipient  under  no  obligation. 
Being  just,  it  is  his  due. 

The  following  affirmations  correctly  define  and  limit 
the  scope  of  just  pension  laws: 

First:  It  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  be  loyal.  No 
citizen  is  entitled  to  a  compensation  of  any  kind  for  being 
loyal. 

Second:  It  is  the  duty  of  every  able-bodied  male  citi- 
zen to  at  once  tender  his  services  whenever  the  Chief  Ex- 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


ecutive  lawfully  calls  for  volunteers  to  defend  the  Na- 
tion. 

Third:  Every  person  who  suffers  from  an  impairment  of 
his  earning  capacity,  by  reason  of  duty  performed  ;n  the 
service  of  the  Nation,  is  entitled  to  full  compensation  for 
such  loss.  Such  a  claim  is  fully  satisfied,  when  by  means 
of  public  or  private  employment  such  a  person  receives 
an  income  equal  to  that  received  by  uninjured  persons 
possessing  similar  qualifications. 

Fourth:  Those  immediately  dependent  for  support  up- 
on a  person  injured,  killed,  or  dying  while  in  the  line  of 
his  duty  in  the  service  of  the  Nation,  shall  be  provided  for 
for  by  a  pension  payment  equivalent  to  the  economic  loss 
sustained.  Such  persons  shall  include  only  those  who 
were  so  supported  at  the  time  of  enlistment,  during  the 
term  of  service,  or  who  became  entitled  to  such  support 
within  five  years  from  the  date  of  final  muster  out. 

Fifth:  Pensions  in  every  case  should  be  sufficient  fully 
to  restore  the  economic  loss  sustained,  so  that  he  who 
serves  his  country  in  its  time  of  need  and  those  who  were 
then  dependent  upon  him,  shall  surfer  no  economic  dis- 
advantage in  comparison  with  uninjured  persons  possess- 
ing similar  qualifications. 

Sixth:  Honorable  recognition  of  patriotic  service  can- 
not be  expressed  by  money  payments,  but  is  fully  satis7 


132 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


fied,  with  credit  to  the  giver  and  respect  for  the  receiver, 
when,  choosing  between  two  applicants  for  employment, 
all  other  considerations  being  equal,  preference  is  given 
to  a  loyal  volunteer  because  he  performed  the  duties  of  a 
soldier  or  sailor  while  others  remained  at  home,  or  took 
up  arms  against  the  Government. 

Properly  to  revise  the  whole  code  of  pension  legisla- 
tion, the  orders,  rules  and  practice  and  methods  of  its 
administration,  to  clear  the  way  for  and  make  possible  an 
honest  and  thorough  application  cf  these  affirmations,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  create  a  Commission  to  deal  with  the 
whole  subject  who  will  be  untrammelled  by  responsibility 
to  party  or  by  the  precedence  and  limitations  of  office. 
The  findings  of  such  a  Commission  will  be  acceptable  to 
the  people,  and  can  be  given  practical  effect  by  Congress 
and  the  Administration,  and  thus  secure  an  enormous  gain 
towards  inducing  a  return  of  prosperity,  while  guaran- 
teeing to  every  ex-soldier  and  sailor  his  just  reward. 

THE   TRUE   REWARD    OF   LOYALTY.* 

When  the  debt  for  impairment  of  earning  capacity  is 
honorably  paid,  what  is  the  true  reward  of  loyalty? 

Acts  of  loyalty  are  acts  of  moral  Tightness.  In  the 
sacred  court  of  the  soul,  where  God's  justice  is  done,  the 
reward  of  a  right  act  is  inseparable  from  the  act.  A  right 

*  Duty  and  Reward  of  Loyalty.    (Pamphlet.) 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION. 


133 


act  is  self -crowned.  Its  crown  is  truth — rightness.  Such 
crown  no  man  can  give  nor  withhold.  In  the  highest 
and  best  sense,  this  crown  is  the  true  reward  of  loyalty. 

The  loyal  volunteer,  endow  him  as  you  may,  clothe 
him  as  best  you  can,  decorate  him  with  all  the  honors 
you  can  bestow,  and  you  have  but  given  a  fitting  tribute 
to  your  own  sense  of  gratitude.  Do  not  suppose  for  a 
moment  that  you  have  thereby  rewarded  his  loyalty, 

The  gains  of  life  are  various.  Some  objects  we  pur- 
sue disappear  as  we  grasp  them.  We  are  children  chas- 
ing with  excited  delight  beautiful  bubbles  floating  free 
in  air.  We  touch  them  and  they  vanish.  Some  objects 
are  as  enduring  as  the  eternal  truth  of  God.  We  pursue 
them  with  the  stern  courage  of  men  upborne  by  the 
strength  of  moral  conviction.  Though  in  the  hour  of 
trial  and  triumph  a  crown  of  thorns  be  pressed  upon  our 
brow,  the  memory  of  a  right  act,  courageously  and  gen- 
erously done,  will  enrich  the  soul  forever.  The  memory 
of  such  actions  is  the  loyal  volunteer's  richest  endowment 
and  most  sacred  acquisition.  How  little  all  that  can  be 
given  must  ever  be,  in  comparison  with  that  which  he  has 
by  right  of  his  own  achievement. 

Ask  him  now  how  he  values  his  memory  of  that  day 
when,  with  his  regiment,  he  first  left  home  for  the  scenes 
of  war.  Can  the  picture  ever  fade?  Streets  thronged 


134 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


with  the  populace  and  decorated  with  the  flag  he  was  to 
defend !  Can  he  ever  forget  the  holy  inspiration  of  the 
silent  cheer  from  his  speechless  father,  mother,  sister,  or 
lover  as  he  passed  them? 

Ask  him  now  how  he  values  his  memory  of  the 
thousand  incidents  of  army  life  that  are  never  recorded 
by  a  single  line  on  the  page  of  history,  but  which  re- 
vealed comrade  to  comrade,  knit  life  to  life,  and  gave 
opportunity  for  the  expression  of  nobility  by  noble  men. 

Ask  him  now  how  he  values  his  memory  of  the  hours  of 
conflict,  when,  by  the  magnetic  touch  of  elbow  to  elbow, 
comrade  to  comrade  gave  courage,  and  the  line  grew 
firm  as  adamant,  when  the  spirit  of  those  who  fell  en- 
tered into  those  who  remained,  and  the  dying  trans- 
formed their  unwilling  groans  into  cheers  for  the  living. 
In  the  crucible  of  conflict,  men  become  molten.  Their 
blood  mingles.  Their  souls  blend.  Their  lives  are  fused 
into  the  life  of  the  nation.  Who  that  has  felt  the  mystic 
power,  the  grand  exaltation,  the  unutterable  joy  of  that 
supreme  moment  when  his  heart's  blood  leaped  forth  as 
he  fell  at  his  post,  would  call  back  one  drop  of  it  for  all 
that  can  be  given  him  in  return? 

Ask  him  now  how  he  values  his  memory  of  that  day, 
duty  done,  his  mission  accomplished,  when,  with  tat- 
tered battle  flags,  clothes  soiled  and  torn,  bronzed  face 


REVISION  OF  PENSION  LEGISLATION.  135 


and  hardened  muscles,  it  may  be  with  scarred  and  dis- 
abled body,  he  returned  with  the  survivors  of  his  regi- 
ment to  his  home.  Again  the  streets  are  thronged  with 
the  populace  and  decorated  with  the  national  flag.  The 
storm  cloud  passed,  all  are  wild  with  joy  made  solemn 
by  the  thoughts  of  them  that  could  not  come,  by  none 
more  tenderly  remembered  than  those  by  whose  side 
they  fell.  The  glory  of  flowers,  the  mingled  voices  of 
music  and  song,  enchant  the  eye,  perfume  the  air,  exalt 
the  soul.  Suddenly,  out  from  the  mass  of  eager  faces  there 
darts  a  father,  mother,  sister,  or  lover,  as  some  looked 
for  one  is  recognized.  The  heart  can  endure  the  strain 
no  longer.  He  is  snatched  from  the  ranks  and  embraced, 
midst  the  cheers  of  all  observers.  Words ! !  There  are 
no  words  for  such  moments !  But  the  entry  the  record- 
ing angel  wrote  that  day  will  forever  read :  Thank  God ! 
my  boy,  my  brother,  my  lover,  has  done  his  duty. 

The  days  of  trial  and  victory  are  passed,  but  memory 
causes  them  to  live  forever  in  the  eternal — NOW. 

Such  memories  are  the  true  reward  of  loyalty.  They 
can  be  possessed  only  by  those  that  earn  them.  Find 
such  a  one,  become  acquainted  with  him,  and  you  will 
find  one  who  will  exact  least  from  the  defended  and  is 
most  generous  to  the  vanquished. 

It  is  these  memories  that  stir  within  old  soldiers  their 


136 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


best  manhood,  and  thrill  them  with  noblest  pride,  as 
they  look  into  each  others'  faces.  They  only  are  capable 
of  appreciating  at  his  true  value  their  comrade  of  the 
campaign,  the  veteran  of  the  battle-field.  They,  better 
than  all  others,  know  how  to  honor  him  that  was  loyal 
when  the  nation  had  need  of  his  services. 

To  him  that  has  no  need,  let  no  mercenary  stain 
come.  To  him  that  is  in  need,  let  abundance  be  given. 
To  all  that  were  faithful  to  their  duty  of  loyalty,  let  the 
true  award  of  loyalty  be  an  untarnished  possession,  a 
crown  of  true  glory. 

All  who  seek  to  perpetuate  the  history  of  the  war  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union,  by  pen,  or  brush,  or 
chisel ;  all  who  speak  about  or  ponder  over  the  events  of 
those  days,  must  ever  stand  uncovered  in  the  presence 
of  him  who  can  say  of  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run  ;  of  the 
last  grand  review ;  or  of  any  of  the  battle  between :  4  *  I 
performed  the  duties  of  loyalty — I  was  THERE." 

The  fourth  act  in  the  programme  of  progress  is  the  re- 
vision of  pension  legislation  in  a  way  to  strike  from  the 
pension  rolls  every  unworthy  name,  and  to  make  loss 
sustained  the  standard  for  payment. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION. 
A  case  of  the  ideal  operation  of  the  Civil  Service  law 
came  to  my  knowledge  some  six  years  ago.  A  young  lady, 
seeing  an  announcement  that  candidates  for  appointment 
in  the  classified  service  would  be  examined  at  a  certain 
time  and  place,  presented  herself  for  that  purpose.  After 
the  examination  was  passed  she  gave  no  more  attention 
to  the  subject.  In  about  a  year  after  her  examination, 
she  was  surprised  by  receiving  notice  that  she  had  been 
appointed  to  a  $900  clerkship.  She  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment, reported  for  duty,  and  is  to-day  in  the  Government 
service,  having  been  promoted  gradually  from  $900  to 
$1200  per  year.  All  this  absolutely  upon  her  own  merit, 
without  the  interposition  of  a  word  or  of  a  request  of  any 
kind  from  any  person  whatever,  and  void  of  any  influ- 
ence, political  or  otherwise,  except  her  own  record  and 
character.  In  so  perfecting  and  extending  the  scope 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


of  Civil  Service  legislation  that  every  position  in  the  Gov- 
ernment service,  not  legislative,  will  be  filled  by  the  method 
above  indicated,  lie  the  best  hopes  for  every  wage  -worker 
in  this  country. 

Removals  from  public  employment  should  not  be  per- 
mitted except  for  causes  affecting  the  efficiency  of  the  serv- 
ice, established  after  due  trial.  Every  principle  of  social 
ethics  and  economic  requirements  demands  that  good 
character,  and  the  satisfactory  performance  of  duties, 
shall  be  the  only  Government  patent  for  obtaining  and  re- 
taining public  employment.  Such  a  reward  for  merit  it 
is  the  duty  and  the  interest  of  the  public  to  award.  Wage- 
workers  everywhere  should  recognize  the  fact  that  em- 
ployees in  the  public  service  are  justly  entitled  to  the 
same  protection  in  their  right  to  keep  their  employment, 
regardless  of  changes  in  administration,  as  are  members 
of  trade  unions  to  keep  their  jobs  when  others  want  their 
places.  Trade  union  members,  to  be  consistent  with  the 
teachings  of  their  orders,  should  look  upon  an  official  who 
discharges  a  Government  employee  for  political  reasons 
only,  as  an  enemy  of  honest  and  of  organized  labor,  and 
should  look  upon  a  person  who  accepts  a  place  made  va- 
cant for  political  reasons  only,  with  the  same  disfavor  as 
they  look  upon  men  who  displace  trades  union  men  in  po- 
sitions they  wish  to  hold.  They  should  resent  an  unjust 


REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION. 


139 


discharge  from  public  service,  and  an  appointment  to  fill 
a  vacancy  so  created,  as  they  do  the  unjust  treatment  of 
a  member  of  their  union.  By  thoroughly  establishing 
the  Civil  Service  beyond  the  ability  or  wish  of  any  politi- 
cal party  or  politician  to  disturb  public  employees,  trade 
unions  will  secure  a  perfect  demonstration  of  the  good 
that  may  result  from  the  enforcement  of  one  of  cardinal 
principles  of  their  orders.  In  no  way  can  public  opinion 
disapproving  the  arbitrary  discharge  of  employees  by  em- 
ployers in  every  avocation  be  made  clearer,  stronger,  and 
more  righteous  than  by  prohibiting  such  discharges  when 
the  public  is  the  employer.  Such  a  public  sentiment  will 
make  every  citizen  a  member  of  the  trade  union  of  the 
nation  and  will  firmly  establish  good  character  and  the 
faithful  .performance  of  duty  in  public  service  as  a  fun- 
damental condition  for  inducing  prosperity.  To  this  end 
it  should  be  made  a  point  of  honor  with  every  candidate 
for  an  elective  office  that,  if  elected,  he  shall  not  make 
nor  ask  for  removals  of  public  employees  for  any  politi- 
cal reason,  nor  for  any  other  reason  without  just  cause 
established  by  a  fair  trial. 

The  standards  of  efficiency  in  the  public  service,  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  work  to  be  done  for  the  money 
tax-payers  pay  for  it,  the  historical  and  statistical  devel- 
opment of  the  great  departments,  and  the  many  complex 


140  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

agencies  that  operate  for  the  welfare  of  the  people,  can- 
not be  carried  forward  with  the  highest  degree  of  effi- 
ciency unless  the  workers  employed  are  assured  of  a  fit- 
ting reward  for  faithful,  competent  and  continuous  serv- 
ice. To  an  extent  which  it  may  be  difficult  for  the  masses 
to  appreciate,  the  Government  employee  of  a  few  years 
standing  becomes,  almost  in  the  ratio  of  his  efficiency  in 
the  service,  incapacitated  for  gaining  equal  preferment  in 
the  usual  avocations  of  civil  life.  This  is  on  account  of 
the  complete  dissimilarity  of  the  work  and  the  conditions 
under  which  it  is  performed,  when  compared  with  work 
in  industrial  and  commercial  life,  demanding  similar 
qualifications,  and  the  conditions  surrounding  such  work. 
The  only  hope  of  reward  that  can  be  offered  to  a  Gov- 
ernment employee,  in  line  with  the  best  development 
of  his  personal  efficiency  and  with  the  highest  interests 
of  the  people,  is,  security  in  his  position  and  certainty 
of  his  promotion.  Both  of  these  conditions  are  destroyed 
by  arbitrary  removals  and  by  arbitrary  promotions.  No 
injustice  is  more  keenly  felt  in  Army  or  Navy  than  that 
caused  by  an  arbitrary  promotion.  An  arbitrary  discharge 
cannot  be  made  in  the  Army  or  Navy.  No  other  act  of 
injustice  is  more  purely  and  brutally  selfish,  or  more  de- 
structive of  the  good  feeling  and  efficiency  of  a  corps  of 
office  clerks  than  an  arbitrary  discharge  or  an  arbitrary 


REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION. 


141 


promotion.  Failure  to  reward  good  character  and  faith- 
ful service  with  continuous  employment  and  merited 
promotion  is  direct  encouragement  of  bad  character  and 
indifference  to,  and  neglect  in,  the  performance  of  duty. 
The  people  cannot  afford  it. 

If  this  question  is  viewed  only  in  the  light  of  the  best 
interests  of  employees  and  of  their  employers,  the  peo- 
ple, it  must  be  conceded  that  each  will  be  great  gainers 
by  the  inclusion  of  every  public  employee  within  the 
classified  service,  and  the  perfecting  of  plain,  practicable 
and  equitable  regulations  for  promotion  and  final  retire- 
ment. There  is,  however,  another  consideration  of  para- 
mount importance  and  so  far  reaching  in  its  bearings 
upon  the  public  welfare  that,  when  once  fairly  thought 
out  and  appreciated  by  the  people,  will  cause  them  to 
look  upon  a  removal  from,  or  an  appointment  to  office, 
solely  for  partisan  political  advantage,  with  as  righteous 
indignation  as  they  now  do  upon  embezzlement  of  public 
funds.  This  consideration  pertains  to  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship. It  must  be  conceded  that  a  government  by  the 
people  is  powerless  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  people 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  intelligence  and  honesty  with 
which  the  right  of  suffrage  is  exercised.  An  -intelligent 
and  honest  use  of  the  ballot  can  result  only  from  proper 
motives  of  action  rightly  directed.  No  motive  is  so  pure, 


142 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


so  true,  so  fruitful  of  good  if  rightly  directed,  as  the  de- 
sire to  promote  the  public  welfare  without  a  lurking 
thought  of  personal  gain,  except  as  any  individual  may 
share  in  the  general  good.  This  desire  is  the  essence, 
the  very  life  of  patriotism. 

In  popular  estimation  patriotism  is  identified  with  ser- 
vice in  the  Army  or  Navy  in  time  of  war.  This  is  a  de- 
lusion. Patriotism  is  the  spirit  of  public  duty  performed 
for  the  good  of  the  whole  without  reference  to  a  direct 
benefit  for  the  individual.  It  is  as  necessary  that  a  citi- 
zen should  study  public  questions  with  the  view  of  co- 
operating with  others  to  secure  the  highest  degree  of 
public  good  as  it  is  for  volunteers  to  drill  that  they  may 
be  handled  as  effective  units  in  military  operations. 
There  is  no  better  discipline  whereby  men  may  be 
taught  their  mutual  dependence  upon,  and  relations  with 
each  other  than  the  army  or  navy  drill.  Its  whole  lan- 
guage and  meaning  is,  effective  strength  is  in  proportion 
to  intelligent  orders  intelligently  and  promptly  exe- 
cuted. In  civil  life  effective  capacity  for  self-govern- 
ment is  in  proportion  to  intelligent  and  prompt  perform- 
ance of  the  duties  of  citizenship.  These  duties  are  of  the 
highest  importance  because  they  are  the  source  of  the 
orders  (laws)  which  every  citizen  must  obey. 

Education  on  political  questions  is  procured  through 


REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION. 


143 


daily,  periodical,  and  book  publications,  the  speeches 
and  circulars  of  political  partisans,  the  dictation  of  party 
organizations  and  personal  influence.  In  all  these  forms 
of  activity  the  true  spirit  of  patriotism  will  manifest  itself 
in  exact  proportion  as  the  motive  of  the  worker  is  in- 
spired solely  with  the  desire  for  the  public  welfare,  or  it 
will  be  corrupted  to  the  extent  in  which  his  efforts  are  in- 
spired by  a  lurking  plan  for  his  own  gain,  or  to  satisfy 
his  own  ambition.  Viewed  from  this  position,  a  political 
party  whose  workers  demand  offices  in  payment  for  their 
political  activity,  is  sure  to  be  as  devoid  of  the  spirit  of 
patriotism,  as  is  an  army  recruited  by  payments  of  large 
bounties  and  the  promise  of  "  liberal  pensions."  In  fact, 
one  of  the  results  flowing  directly  from  the  degradation 
of  patriotism  by  pensions  is  seen  in  the  idea,  which  is  al- 
most universal,  that  everyone  must  be  paid  for  any  ser- 
vice he  may  render  in  promoting  political  action.  This 
idea  is  followed  to  the  extent  of  failing  to  distinguish,  as 
in  the  case  of  pensions,  between  a  public  duty  that  all 
men  must  render  if  the  Government  is  to  be  maintained 
and  made  beneficial ;  and  a  service  which  few  can  render, 
and  in  doing  which  must  deprive  themselves  of  the  op- 
portunity or  capacity  to  win  economic  gains  in  the  ordi- 
nary vocations  of  life,  as  is  the  case  with  those  in  mili- 
tary life  and  employees  in  the  public  service. 


144 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


There  is  no  essential  difference  between  the  patriot  for 
bounties  and  pensions,  and  the  patriot  for  office.  They 
are  both  patriots  for  revenue  only.  When  a  government 
or  a  political  party  is  compelled  to  buy  patriotism,  or 
loyal  support,  it  can  command  neither.  Patriotism, 
loyalty,  are  not  commodities  of  the  market  place,  they 
are  qualities  of  character  and  as  such  are  not  purchas- 
able. If  a  man  believes  a  measure  to  be  for  the  public 
good  his  duty  as  a  citizen  commands  him  to  use  all  hon- 
orable means  that  he  can  control  to  secure  its  enact- 
ment. This  it  is  his  primal  duty  to  do  as  a  good  citizen. 
His  failure  so  to  do,  in  the  fitness  of  things,  should  de- 
prive him  of  his  citizenship  as  quickly  as  disregarding 
an  oath  office  should  deprive  an  incumbent  of  his  office. 
Any  departure  from  this  rule  is  a  departure  in  the  direc- 
tion of  bribery  and  corruption.  That  man  who  can  be 
bought  to  support  a  party  measure  with  the  promise  of 
an  office,  that  representative  who  will  defeat  a  measure 
because  he  has  not  been  allowed  to  control  patronage,  is 
a  traitor  to  himself,  to  his  party  and  to  his  country.  It 
is  better  that  a  measure  should  fail  than  that  it  should 
be  secured  by  such  means.  A  party  that  advocates 
measures  of  vital  interest  which  call  to  its  support  the 
masses  of  honest,  well-meaning  people,  who  have  no 
thought  of  office,  but  who  work  with  heroic  devotion  for 


REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION.  j^c 

a  cause  they  believe  to  be  just,  has  no.  need  of  patronage, 
real  or  prospective,  with  which  to  bribe  its  workers.  A 
party  that  does  not  advocate  such  measures  has  no  right 
to  succeed  and  could  not  dispense  patronage  without 
corruption,  if  it  should  succeed.  When  there  is  no  hope 
of  rewrard  in  the  spoils  of  office,  the  purchasable  politica 
worker  will  give  place  to  the  man  whose  work  is  actuated  ' 
by  principle,  whose  inducement  is  the  success  of  the 
measures  he  believes  to  be  just  and  for  the  public  wel- 
fare. With  this  change  there  will  come  a  change  in 
political  methods.  All  political  tricks  of  doubtful  moral- 
ity will  be  eliminated  from  political  procedures,  and  in- 
fluences that  make  for  good  will  be  welcomed  and 
strengthened.  The  gain  for  the  people  from  this  cause 
will  be  enormous. 

One  fact  may  be  relied  upon  to  assist  in  securing  an 
enlargement  of  Civil  Service  legislation  that  will  forever 
divorce  public  patronage  from  party  politics,  is  the  demon- 
stration that  has  recently  been  afforded  of  the  folly  of  a 
party  expecting  continuous  control  of  the  Government, 
and,  for  this  reason,  neglecting  its  opportunity  to  so 
arrange  the  laws  as  to  secure  its  appointees  against 
disturbance  by  new  comers.  Should  those  nowr  in  power 
be  guilty  of  a  similar  neglect  of  their  duty  and  oppor- 
tunity, it  is  to  be  hoped,  when  the  day  for  their  punish- 


146  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

ment  comes,  as  it  inevitably  must,  they  will  accept  their 
chastisement  with  becoming  humility  and  grace. 

Under  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  and  the  stress  of 
party  exigencies  now  existing,  it  is  not  probable  that  any 
of  the  gains  for  sound  Civil  Service  legislation  will  be 
lost,  but  that  great  progress  will  be  made  in  this  di- 
rection. When  the  contribution  plate  is  passed  down  the 
aisles,  no  question  is  asked  as  to  how  the  money  was  pro- 
cured by  those  who  place  it  on  the  plate.  This  is  the 
attitude  in  which  Civil  Service  legislation  and  regula- 
tions have  been  received  from  time  to  time.  The  honest 
working  masses  who  toil  in  the  offices  have  been  thank- 
ful for  every  mite  that  tended  to  give  them  security  in 
their  employment  and  just  recognition  of  their  merit. 
They  have  asked  no  questions  as  to  the  policies  or  mo- 
tives of  the  party  by  whom  the  gain  was  given.  And 
the  people  have  been  none  the  less  docile,  expectant  and 
tenacious.  No  gain  yet  given  has  been  lost.  No  matter 
how  transparent  and  unworthy  the  motive  may  have  ap- 
peared for  extending  the  classified  service  in  this  or  that 
direction,  once  extended,  it  has  not  been  within  the 
power  of  either  party  to  recall  the  step. 

Government  by  the  people  cannot  be  better  than  the 
people.  It  must  be  a  reflection  of  the  moral  and  intellect- 
ual development  of  the  day.  This  ideal  will  fail  to  be 


REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION.          147 

realized  in  exact  proportion  to  the  neglect  of  the  duties  of 
citizenship  by  the  moral  and  the  intelligent.  The  forces 
that  work  for  evil  are  always  active  and  watchful  for  an 
opportunity  to  become  aggressive.  The  forces  that  work 
for  good  are  easily  lulled  into  repose  by  a  false  sense  of 
security,  when  the  stress  of  an  impending  crisis  is  not 
felt.  The  forces  that  work  for  evil  are  always  cohesive, 
as  they  always  have  a  personal  selfish  end  to  serve. 
Greed  and  corruption  deal  in  ready  cash,  and  "money 
talks."  This  has  been  painfully  illustrated  by  the  course 
of  public  sentiment  and  political  action  in  regard  to  the 
pension  question.  The  good  have  indulged  in  plati- 
tudes regarding  the  bravery,  sacrifices  and  high  worth 
of  loyal  volunteers,  the  debt  of  gratitude,  respect  and 
honor  owed  to  them  by  an  appreciative  and  prosperous 
people ;  the  evil  have  taken  up  the  refrain  and  repeated 
every  praiseworthy  sentiment  with  due  unction.  Under 
this  cover  they  have  enacted  laws  that  have  degraded 
every  intelligent  volunteer,  robbed  taxpayers  of  hundreds 
of  millions  and  put  money  into  the  pockets  of  the  unde- 
serving and  corrupt.  The  same  course  is  followed  in 
the  manipulation  of  votes  by  politicians.  There  is 
never  absent  from  their  literature,  speeches  and  declara- 
tions of  principles,  most  fervid  expressions-  about  the  dig- 
nity of  honest  labor,  the  sacredness  of  public  funds,  the 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


duty  of  right  doing.  There  is  never  absent  from  their 
actions  the  most  flagrant  indignity  that  can  be  offered 
honest  labor  ;  in  the  clamor  for  place,  demanding  the  dis- 
charge of  honest,  intelligent,  faithful  public  employees, 
to  make  room  for  political  heelers  ;  they  do  not  hesitate 
to  make  corrupt  and  wasteful  use  of  public  funds,  far  ex- 
ceeding anything  dared  or  done  by  King  George  III 
against  whose  rule  our  forefathers  rebelled,  in  the  buy- 
ing of  pig  silver,  the  payment  of  sugar  bounties,  the 
payment  of  pensions,  and  the  wasting  of  the  public  do- 
main. 

A  public  opinion  that  permits  its  representatives  to 
make  a  corrupt  use  of  public  patronage  will  permit  them 
to  make  a  corrupt  use  of  public  funds,  and  of  the  public 
domain. 

Politicians  who  see  no  wrong  in  distributing  public 
patronage  to  vote  winning  workers,  will  see  no  wrong  in 
distributing  public  funds  by  vote  winning  measures.  A 
public  opinion  that  is  sufficiently  intelligent  and  earnest 
in  expression  to  stop  the  corrupt  distribution  of  public 
patronage,  will  be  sufficiently  intelligent  and  aggressive 
to  demand  that  the  service  of  the  public  shall  be  made  a 
profession  of  higher  honor  than  has  ever  been  its  military 
or  naval  service.  That  it  shall  be  a  profession  by  means 
of  which  those  whose  inclinations  lead  them  to  the  study 


REVISION  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  LEGISLATION. 


149 


and  development  of  any  of  the  multiplex  branches  of 
science,  invention  or  art,  rather  than  to  money  making, 
may  devote  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  people,  for 
their  social,  physical,  and  industrial  well-being.  These 
are  interests  that  cover  the  whole  of  life  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave  and  reach  out  into  the  limitless  future.  They 
have  to  do  with  character,  comfort,  happiness,  pros- 
perity. A  public  opinion  that  is  sufficiently  intelligent 
and  earnest  in  expression  to  insist  upon  and  to  secure 
such  an  administration  of  the  public  service,  will  be  suf- 
ficiently intelligent  and  aggressive  to  demand  and  to 
stop  the  corrupt  distribution  of  public  funds  and  of  the 
public  domain.  If  any  one  will  try  to  form  a  just  esti- 
mate of  the  difference  between  existing  conditions  of 
life  in  this  country  for  the  masses,  and  those  that  might 
have  been  established,  had  the  same  amount  of  public 
funds,  that  has  been  worse  than  wasted  in  ways  herein 
indicated,  been  judiciously  expended  in  scientific  re- 
searches, inventions,  discoveries  and  invention,  all  bene- 
fits from  which  would  accrue  to  the  people,  the  investiga- 
tion will  force  him  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  true  of  a 
people,  as  it  is  of  an  individual  that,  the  objects  for 
which  income  is  expended  indicate  and  limit  the  direction 
of  and  progress  in  self-culture,  self-government,  self- 
induced  prosperity. 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


In  its  possiblities  of  influence  for  good  upon  the  wel- 
fare of  the  daily  life  of  the  people ;  in  its  power  to  uplift 
true  standards  of  merit  for  the  guidance  of  the  masses, 
and  in  its  effect  upon  those  employed  in  the  people's  ser- 
vice, the  deep  significance  of  the  demand  for  a  most 
thorough,  intelligent  and  far  reaching  revision  and  ex- 
tension of  Civil  Service  legislation  and  regulation  will  be 
found.  In  no  way  can  a  more  emphatic  command  be 
given  to  politicians  to  deal  honestly  with  the  people's 
funds,  than  by  a  demand  that  will  admit  of  no  evasion 
that  they  shall  deal  honorably  with  the  people's  em- 
ployees. 

The  fifth  act  in  the  programme  of  progress  is  the  re- 
vision, in  the  direction  of  largely  extending  Civil  Service 
legislation  and  regulations,  to  the  end  that  the  people 
may  be  served  by  the  honest  and  capable,  who  will  be 
under  no  obligations  to  party,  but  will  owe  their  entire 
allegiance  to  the  Government. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
CONCLUSIONS. 

The  ultimate  result  of  government  by  the  people, 
through  a  representative  system,  is  government  of  the 
people  by  their  representatives.  In  theory  the  people 
instruct  their  representatives.  In  practice  the  represen- 
tatives, who  should  be  true  leaders,  instruct  the  people. 

Representatives  who  gain  or  hold  political  power  de- 
rived from  constituencies  exercising  the  right  to  vote  by 
authority  of  manhood  suffrage,  are  always  weakened  in 
their  leadership  by  the  lack  of  correct  information  among 
the  masses.  When  economic  questions  are  involved  in 
legislative  measures,  concerning  which  there  is  a  lack  of 
an  agreement  or  of  a  clear  understanding  -among  those 
of  average  intelligence,  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
for  the  well  informed,  to  command  the  necessary  sup- 
port to  enact  measures  complying  with  sound  economic 
requirements.  For  this  reason  the  well  informed  are 
obliged  to  choose  between  two  courses : 


1 52  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


1.  To  hold  absolutely  to  that  which  they  know  to  be 
sound  economic  policy  and  thus  place  themselves  in  a 
hopeless  minority,  in  which  event  the  majority  will  pass 
less  wise  measures ;  or, 

2.  To  make  concessions  to  the  majority  and  by  meeting 
it  part  way,   secure  the  enactment  of  measures  which, 
though  less  wise  than  those  known  to  be  best,  are  more 
wise  than  the  measures  that  would  be  enacted  by  the  ma- 
jority if  abandoned  by  the  well-informed.     It  is  an  open 
question  as  to  which  procedure  is  productive  of  the  most 
direct  benefit  to  the  people.     This  is  a  question  of  judg- 
ment that  no  one  can  decide  for  a  representative,  as  no 
one  but  himself  can  view  the  question  from  his  stand- 
point.    His  is  the  responsibility  of  acting.     To  him  be- 
longs the  credit  or  discredit  that  may  attach  to  his  act  as 
historians  will  view  it,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events. 

Ignorance  is  the  absence  of  intelligence.  The  intelli- 
gence of  the  least  informed,  who  are  the  many,  is  very 
little.  The  intelligence  of  the  well-informed,  who  are 
the  few,  is  very  great.  For  this  reason,  the  man  of  av- 
erage intelligence  is  far  above  a  line  equally  dividing  the 
total  number  of  votes.  It  may  be  assumed  that  there  are 
100  votes  below  the  man  of  average  intelligence,  to  each 
vote  above  him.  And  for  this  reason  the  much-applauded 
sentiment,  "the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God," 


CONCLUSIONS. 


has  no  foundation  in  fact.  Divinity  is  not  in  the  King, 
nor  yet  in  the  voice  of  the  people,  but  in  the  intelligence 
of  the  individual.  When  a  man  utters  a  truth,  God 
speaks.  The  assertion  that  the  King  can  do  no  wrong  has 
long  since  been  added  to  the  list  of  errors  made  by  the 
uninformed  and  the  superstitious.  The  corresponding 
error  next  in  line  for  promotion  to  the  group  of  the  falla- 
cies of  the  uninformed,  is  the  assertion  that  the  majority 
can  do  no  wrong.  No  individual  makes  claim  to  infalli- 
bility. For  these  reasons,  if  one  is  disposed  to  make 
light  of  serious  things,  the  whole  system  and  course  of 
human  governments  may  be  classed  as  a  Comedy  of  Er- 
rors. But  it  is  not  so.  The  necessary  organization  of 
society  compels  the  well-informed  to  submit  their  meas- 
ures to  the  approval  of  the  least  informed,  and  to  cause 
them  to  be  uuderstood  by  those  below  the  average  man 
in  order  to  secure  their  enactment,  or,  they  must  submit 
to  be  governed  by  measures  which  they  know  to  be  less 
wise  than  their  own,  but  which  are  approved  by  the  av- 
erage man  and  those  below  him.  This  necessity  induces 
and  maintains  in  constant  operation  a  campaign  of  edu- 
cation which  tends  continuously  to  increase  the  intelli- 
gence of  those  below  the  average.  This  is  the  generic 
force  of  advancing  civilization. 

Intelligence  is  acquired  by  instruction  through  the  rea- 


154 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


son,  and  by  instruction  through  experience.  Some  one 
has  said  that  a  thing  is  never  thoroughly  learned  until  it 
is  learned  by  experience.  If  this  be  true,  then  it  is  man- 
ifestly best  for  the  well-informed  to  stand  manfully  by 
the  measures  which  they  approve,  and  to  work  for  such 
measures  with  all  the  energy  they  can  command.  By 
doing  this,  they  will  educate  the  people  through  their 
reason.  While  this  course  of  instruction  is  in  progress, 
the  uninformed  majority  will  of  course  enact  measures 
less  wise  than  those  advocated  by  the  well-informed  mi- 
nority. This  will  give  both  parties  the  advantage  of 
noting  the  differences  between  expected  and  obtained 
results.  If  the  measures  enacted  by  the  uninformed  ma- 
jority are  less  wise  than  those  advocated  by  a  well-in- 
formed minority,  the  obtained  results  will  be  less  satis- 
factory than  the  expected  results,  and  the  failure  will  be 
found  in  those  particulars  in  which  the  measures  differ 
from  those  advocated  by  the  well-informed  minority.  In 
this  way  the  uninformed  majority  will  gain  by  the  double 
process  of  instruction,  the  reasoning  of  the  well-informed, 
and  the  bitter  experience  gained  by  its  own  attempt  to 
use  forces  it  does  not  understand.  As  the  majority  gains 
intelligence,  it  will  adopt  the  once-discarded  measures 
advocated  by  the  minority,  and  thus  make  progress  by 
the  adoption  of  better  standards  of  excellence  than  those 


CONCLUSIONS. 


155 


by  which  it  was  at  first  guided.  This  will  not  necessarily 
make  the  minority  a  part  of  the  majority,  and  thus  estab- 
lish a  complete  agreement  between  all  parties.  Those 
who  can  gain  intelligence  through  their  reason  do  not 
have  to  lag  in  the  trail  of  experience.  When  they  have 
discovered,  mastered,  and  assimilated  one  truth,  the  in- 
exorable law  of  progress  commands  them  to  move  on  to 
the  discovery  and  elucidation  of  other  truths.  Such  are 
the  true  leaders  of  the  people. 

A  statesman  is  one  who,  clearly  seeing  the  true  course, 
seeks  to  cause  people  to  take  but  one  step  at  a  time  in 
that  direction.  He  is  never  disturbed  by  the  rate  of  pro- 
gress. His  only  anxiety  is  to  have  every  step  in  the 
right  direction.  He  will  not  hesitate  to  act  with  the  ma- 
jority when  the  majority  is  right,  nor  will  he  fear  to  act 
with  the  minority  when  it  is  right  and  the  majority  is 
wrong. 

A  politician  is  one  who,  though  he  may  clearly  see  the 
true  course,  seeks  to  gain  or  retain  political  power  by  ad- 
vocating those  measures  which  in  his  judgment  will  find 
a  response  in  the  sentiments  or  prejudices  of  the  largest 
number  of  voters  in  his  district,  the  uninformed.  He  has 
no  anxiety  about  the  inherent  soundness  of  the  measures 
he  supports.  His  only  care  is  to  make  them  leg  a  I  and 
to  be  sure  they  will  win  him  votes  enough  to  place  or 


156 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


keep  him  in  power.  His  are  the  measures  which  furnish 
the  opportunity  for  noting  the  difference  between  the 
expected  and  the  obtained  result.  His  is  the  responsi- 
bility of  being  guided  by  his  own  judgment.  To  him  be- 
longs the  credit  or  discredit  that  may  be  attached  to  his 
acts  as  viewed  by  the  historian.  He  is  generally  in  the 
majority.  The  successes  of  the  uninformed  and  of  the 
dishonest,  are  always  translated  as  defeats  by  those  who 
write  history. 

The  guide  of  the  statesman  is  ihe  highest  attainable 
degree  of  prosperity  for  the  whole  people.  The  guide  of 
the  politician  is  the  longest  possible  tenure  of  power  for 
his  party.  The  statesman  regards  ' '  public  office  as  a 
public  trust."  He  is  a  true  patriot.  The  politician  re 
gards  public  office  as  a  party  asset.  He  is  a  mercenary. 

While  a  man  may  not  know  everything,  he  can  know 
one  thing  well.  Legislative  questions  cover  a  limitless 
range  of  subjects  and  require  for  their  proper  solution  an 
•  amount  of  accurate  inf ormaf ion  beyond  the  power  of  any 
one  man  to  acquire.  Touching  those  measures  regard- 
ing which  a  man  has  no  personal,  definite,  or  accurate 
knowledge,  his  only  reasonable  course  is  to  be  guided  by 
those  in  whose  judgment  he  has  confidence,  whom  he 
believes  to  be  honest,  and  to  be  well  informed  on  the 
subject.  Touching  those  subjects  concerning  which  a 


CONCLUSIONS. 


157 


person  believes  himself  to  be  well  informed,  if  he  is  hon- 
est, he  will  be  guided  by  his  own  judgment.  This  course 
may  cause  him  to  act,  on  some  occasions,  in  opposition 
to  the  majority  of  his  party,  but  it  will  tend  to  prevent 
his  party  from  subordinating  the  welfare  of  the  people  to 
the  welfare  of  the  party.  For  tnis  reason,  it  is  his  duty 
as  a  statesman  and  a  patriot  to  act  in  conformity  with 
the  dictates  of  his  judgment. 

The  steps  to  be  taken  by  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  at 
its  first  session,  in  carrying  out  a  Programme  of  Progress, 

are: 

First:  Repeal  of  the  Silver  Purchase  Act. 

The  influences  that  secured  the  passage  of  this  act 
were: 

1.  Desire   of   silver    men  to  secure  a  market  for  the 
product  of  their  mines  with  a  sufficient  demand  to  main- 
tain or  increase  its  price.     The  obtained  result  is  not  a 
realization  of  the  expected  result.     Experience  teaches 
that,  for  the  purposes  of  silver  men,  the  Silver  Purchase 
Act  is  a  failure. 

2.  Desire  of  currency  men  to  secure  a  sound  and  an 
automatically  elastic  currency.     Stated  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, 4 '  a  currency  that  will  be  abundant  in  the  pockets 
of  the  people."     The  obtained  result  is  not  a  realization 
of  the  expected  result.     Experience  teaches  that,  for  the 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


purposes  of  currency  men,  the  Silver  Purchase  Act  is  a 
failure. 

3.  Desire   of  national  bank    men   to  perpetuate    the 
national  banking  system.     Millions  spent  in  purchasing 
pig  silver,  for  which  the  Government  has  no  use,  cannot 
be  spent  for  the  redemption  of  bonds  on  which  the  peo- 
ple are  paying  interest,  which  bonds  are  used  as  the 
basis,  of  the   national  banking    system.     The  obtained 
result  in  this  particular,  is  a  realization  of  the  expected 
result.      Experience  teaches  that  for   the  purposes  of 
national  bank  men,  the  Silver  Purchase  Act  is  a  success. 

4.  Desire  of  gold  men   to  maintain  a  gold  standard. 
The  supposed  necessity  of  choosing  between  free  coin- 
age of  silver,  and  the  purchase  of  silver,  secured  the 
support  of  gold  men  for  the    Silver  Purchase  Act  as  a 
compromise  measure  that  would  prevent  the  monetary 
system  of  the  country  from  being  transferred  to  a  silver 
basis.     The  obtained  result  is  not  a  realization  of  the  ex- 
pected result.     The  monetary  system  of  the  country  is 
now  much  nearer  to  being  transferred  to  a  silver  basis 
than  it  has  ever  before  been,  and  will  be  so  transferred 
if  the  Silver  Purchase  Act  be  not  repealed,  and  the  coin- 
age of  silver  be  not  prohibited  until  there  is  a  commer- 
cial demand  for  silver  coin.     Experience  teaches  that  as 
a  means  for  maintaining  a  gold  standard,  the  purpose 
of  gold  men,  the  Silver  Purchase  Act  is  a  failure. 


CONCLUSIONS. 


159 


These  statements  clearly  show  it  to  be  the  patriotic 
duty  of  all  representatives  who  wish  to  rank  as  states- 
men, to  vote  for  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Silver 
Purchase  Act.  In  doing  this  they  will  record  the  fact 
that,  having  learned  through  bitter  experience  that  the 
Silver  Purchase  Act  is  not  well  designed  to  induce  the 
greatest  possible  degree  of  prosperity  for  the  whole  peo- 
ple, its  repeal  was  demanded  and  was  accomplished  by 
a  patriotic  combination  of : 

1.  Well  informed  silver  men  who  seek  to  place  the  sil- 
ver mining  industry  on  a  sound  economic  basis. 

2.  Well  informed  currency   men  who  seek  to  supply 
the  people  with  a  sound,  and  an  automatically  elastic 
currency  based  on  a  gold  standard  of  values,  that  will 
become  abundant  in  the  pockets  of  the  people. 

3.  Well  informed  gold  men  who  seek  to  maintain  a  . 
gold  standard  of  prices  for  internal  and  international 
commerce. 

4.  Well  informed  national  bank  man  who  are  ready 
to  prepare  the  way  for  an  inevitable  change  in   the 
national  banking  system. 

This  demand  will  be  opposed  by : 

1.  Uninformed  silver  men. 

2.  Uninformed  currency  men. 

3.  Mercenary  national  bank  men  who  desire  to  pef- 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


petuate  the  national  banking  system  on  its  present  basis 
without  regard  to  the  standard  of  values,  whether  it  be 
gold  or  silver,  so  long  as  they  can  retain  their  monopoly 
of  the  power  to  issue  currency. 

Second:  Repeal  of  the  National  Law  Taxing  State 
Bank  Currency. 

This  law  was  enacted  as  a  war  measure.  Its  object  was 
to  strengthen  the  national  banking  System  in  order  to 
make  that  system  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  the  Treasury 
Department,  for  carrying  out  the  financial  policy  of  the 
Government,  and  for  managing  the  enormous  fiscal  ope- 
rations made  necessary  to  redeem  the  depreciated  notes 
and  bonds  issued  by  the  Government  during  the  war,  and 
to  bring  their  value  to  par  with  the  standard  gold  values 
of  the  great  financial  centers  of  the  world.  The  measure 
was  adopted  to  prevent  financial  disturbance  during  this 
transition,  by  an  indiscriminate  organization  of  State 
Banks  of  Issue.  Under  the  economic  conditions  then  ex- 
isting, there  was  a  necessity  for  the  measure.  The  mis- 
take was  made  in  continuing  the  measure  in  force  after 
the  necessity  for  it  had  ceased  to  exist.  When  the  de- 
preciated notes  and  bonds  issued  by  the  Government  dur- 
ing the  war  had  been  successfully  brought  to  their  par 
value  measured  by  a  gold  standard ;  instead  of  arresting 
the  economic  process  by  which  this  result  had  been  se- 


CONCLUSIONS.  161 


cured,  the  rapid  payment  of  the  public  debt,  that  process 
should  have  been  continued,  and  further  benefits  should 
have  been  gained  for  the  people  by  decreasing  the  bur- 
dens they  had  so  patiently  carried,  through  a  continued 
reduction  of  the  interest-bearing  debt.  The  liquidation 
of  the  national  banking  system  should  have  been  pro- 
vided for  by  the  reorganization  of  a  state  banking  sys- 
tem to  supersede  the  national  banking  system,  as  it  has 
superseded  state  banks  of  issue  through  the  exigencies 
of  an  uncivil  war.  This  course  would  have  satisfied  the 
demands  of  the  people,  who  became  frightened  by  the 
contraction  of  the  currency,  and  would  have  prevented 
currency  men  from  becoming  contaminated  with  the 
sophistries  of  silver  men.  This  course  was  not  taken. 

The  influences  that  secured  the  passage  of  the  Act  tax- 
ing State  Bank  Currency  were : 

i.  Desire  of  gold  men  to  avoid  any  financial  disturb- 
ance or  distrust  of  the  monetary  policy  of  the  country  by 
the  organization  of  state  Banks  of  Issue.  While  pre- 
venting a  financial  disturbance  from  the  expected  cause, 
the  measure  has  induced  a  financial  disturbance  of  a  far 
more  serious  character  from  a  different  cause  that  was 
not  wholly  unexpected.  Instead  of  permitting  the  unin- 
formed to  experiment  with  banking  systems  at  their  own 
expense  in  their  own  localities,  which  would  have  satis- 


562  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


fied  the  demands  of  currency  men,  this  law  taxing  state 
bank  currency  forced  them  into  combination  with  silver 
men,  and  with  each  other,  and  compelled  them  to  exper- 
iment with  monetary  measures  at  the  expense  of  the 
whole  people  in  the  Congress  of  the  Nation.  The  ob- 
tained result  is  not  a  realization  of  the  expected  result. 
Experience  teaches  that,  for  the  purposes  of  the  gold 
men,  the  Act  taxing  State  Bank  Currency  is  a  failure. 

2.  Desire  of  national  bank  men  to  perpetuate  the  na- 
tional banking  system.  A  cause  for  the  liquidation  of 
this  system  was  laid  in  its  foundation.  The  people,  if 
good  economists,  will  pay  their  debts.  This  done,  the 
present  basis  for  national  bank  currency  will  have  ceased 
to  exist.  The  national  tax*  on  state  bank  currency  has 
retarded  this  consummation  by  inducing  currency  men 
to  favor  the  investment  of  $432,372,907  of  the  people's 
funds  in  pig  silver,  for  which  there  is  110  use,  and  on 
which  a  shrinkage  in  value  of  $81,000,000  has  already  ac- 
crued, an  investment  in  dead  property,  decreasing  in 
value,  instead  of  using  this  amotint  to  continue  the  eco- 
nomic process  of  paying  the  national  debt,  by  which  use 
it  could  not  surfer  from  depreciation  in  value,  and  would 
be  a  benefit  to  the  people  by  decreasing  the  burden  of 
interest  on  debt,  effectually  accomplished  by  its  pay- 
ment. The  national  tax  on  state  bank  currency  has 


CONCLUSIONS. 


163 


retarded,  but  it  is  powerless  to  permanently  stop  the  on- 
coming of  the  inevitable.  The  national  debt  must  and 
will  be  paid.  The  bond  basis  for  national  bank  cur- 
rency must  and  will  be  wiped  out  of  existence.  The  ob- 
tained result  is  not  a  realization  of  the  expected  result. 
Experience  teaches  that,  for  the  ptirpose  of  national  bank 
men,  as  a  means  of  permanently  perpetuating  the  na- 
tional banking  system,  the  Act  taxing  State  Bank  Cur- 
rency is  a  failure. 

These  statements  clearly  show  it  to  be  the  patriotic 
duty  of  all  representatives  who  wish  to  rank  as  states- 
men, to  vote  for  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Act  tax- 
ing State  Bank  Currency.  In  doing  this,  they  will  re- 
cord the  fact  that,  having  learned  through  bitter  experi- 
ence that  the  Act  taxing  State  Bank  Currency  is  not  well 
designed  to  induce  the  greatest  possible  degree  of  pros- 
perity for  the  whole  people,  its  repeal  was  demanded  and 
accomplished  by  a  patriotic  combination  of : 

1.  Well   informed  gold  men  who  seek  to  maintain  a 
gold  standard  of  value  for  all  internal  and  international 
commerce  and  wish  to  avoid  all  disturbing  monetary 
policies  that  may  tend  to  weaken  the  confidence  of  the 
financiers  of  the  world  in  the  disposition  of  the  people  of 
this  country  to  maintain  such  a  standard. 

2.  Well  informed  currency  men  who  seek  to  establish 


164  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

a  sound  and  an  automatically  elastic  currency  that  will 
respond  freely  to  the  wants  of  the  people  in  all  sections 
of  the  country,  which  can  be  accomplished  only  by  a  de- 
centralized currency,  through  a  sound  system  of  State 
Banks  of  Issue. 

3.  Well  informed  silver  men  who  have  become  satisfied 
that  the  purchase  of  pig  silver  and  the  issue  of  silver  cer- 
tificates for  its  value,  will  not  maintain  the  price  of  silver 
nor  supply  the  country  with  the  sound  and  automatically 
elastic  currency  of  which  it  is  in  great  need,  and  who  are 
now  willing  to  show  their  appreciation  of  the  favors  done 
them  by  currency  men  in  the  past,  by  returning  those 
favors  in  kind,  in  the  present  emergency. 

4.  Well  informed  national  bank  men  who  see  that  the 
national  banking  system   has  passed  the  zenith  of  its 
useful  existence  and  are  ready  to  co-operate  with  gold 
men  and  currency  men  in  providing  for  its  inevitable 
liquidation,  by  organizing  a  sound  system  of  State  Banks 
of  Issue,  into  which  form  they  canjtransform  their  or- 
ganizations, with  a  direct  financial  benefit  for  themselves 
and  an  infinite  gain  for  the  whole  people. 

This  demand  will  be  opposed] by: 

i.  Uninformed  gold  men  deluded  [by  the  idea  that 
State  Banks  of  Issue  and  a  gold  standard  are  necessarily 
incompatible. 


CONCLUSIONS.  165 


2.  Uninformed  currency  men,  still  deluded  by  the  sil- 
ver craze,  who  think  that  the  purchase  of  pig  silver  and 
the  issue  by  the  Government  of   silver   certificates  re- 
deemable in  gold,  in  payment  for  the  same,  is  creating  a 
sotind  and  an  automatically  elastic  currency  which  will 
become  abundant  in  the  pockets  of  the  people.      Where 
is  it  now? 

3.  Uninformed  and  mercenary  silver  men  who  still 
think  they  can  force  the  people  of  this  country  to  change 
their  monetary  system  and  adopt  a  silver  standard,  for 
the  alleged  benefit  of  the  people,  but  for  the  directly  de- 
signed benefit  of  silver  mine  owners. 

4.  Uninformed  national  bank  men  who  are  satisfied 
with  the  national   banking  system  as  it  is  and  prefer  to 
remain  undisturbed,  rather  than  to  make  a  change  in 
the  banking  system  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people. 

Third:  Revision  of  Tariff  Legislation. 

Tariff  legislation  has  been  enacted  in  a  manner  to  pre- 
vent the  operation  of  the  sound  theory  that  import  duties 
should  be  so  assessed  as  to  render  the  greatest  possible 
protection  to  domestic  industries,  and  incidentally,  to 
secure  revenues  for  the  support  of  the  Government  by 
indirect  taxation.  In  the  enactment  of  this  legislation 
three  fundamental  economic  principles  have  have  been 
ignored. 


i66  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


First:  Every  restriction  upon  the  free  exchange  of 
commodities  is  a  restraint  upon  industry  and  a  bar  to 
prosperity. 

Second:  Unnecessary  protection  arrests  development 
by  removing  that  potent  stimulus  to  action,  the  competi- 
tion of  the  capable. 

Third:  Indirect  taxation  is  inequitable,  therefore  un- 
just. Revenues  derived  by  indirect  taxation  are  ex- 
pended with  less  regard  for  sound  economic  uses  of  the 
people's  money,  than  are  revenues  derived  by  direct 
taxation. 

The  sound  principle  of  ' '  American  protection  for 
American  industries,  and  for  industrious  Americans," 
has  been  perverted  by  a  system  of  import  duties,  as- 
sessed without  attempting  to  effect  an  equitable  adjust- 
ment of  the  economic  conditions  under  which  commodi- 
ties may  be  produced  in  this  and  foreign  countries,  and 
without  a  logical  and  clearly  defined  system  providing 
for  the  diminution  of  such  duties,  to  correspond  with 
gains  made  in  overcoming  the  economic  differences  in 
the  conditions  of  production,  by  the  advances  made  in 
science,  art,  and  equipments  for  manufacturing.  Im- 
port duties  assessed  without  a  clearly  defined  and  equit- 
able system  providing  for  their  reduction  and  final 
abolition,  places  every  manufacturer  at  the  mercy  of  the 


CONCLUSIONS.  167 


party  in  power,  because  that  party  is  free  to  increase  or 
decrease  import  duties  by  fiat  legislation.  This  illogical 
system  of  fiat  import  duties  has  compelled  an  unneces- 
sary antagonism  between  the  producers  of  protected 
commodities  and  the  producers  of  non-protected  com- 
modities, and  forced  them  into  opposing  parties,  which 
has  prevented  them  from  co-operating  on  this,  and  other 
questions  of  vital  importance. 

When  import  duties  are  assessed  for  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  establishing  the  production  of  a  commodity  in 
this  country,  to  the  end  that  domestic  consumers  of  the 
commodity  may  be  supplied  without  a  tax  for  importa- 
tion, and  with  the  least  possible  cost  for  transportation  ; 
and  further,  to  the  end  that  those  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  such  commodities,  may  be  supplied,  at  lowest 
cost  for  transportation,  with  the  products  they  consume 
for  their  support  and  in  the  process  of  manufacture,  and 
thereby  enable  the  producers  of  non-protected  commodi- 
ties, to  secure  a  higher  price  for  their  commodities  than 
can  be  otherwise  obtained;  when  these  purposes  are 
clearly  understood  and  honestly  carried  out,  there  can 
be  no  intelligent  antagonism  between  protected  and  non- 
protected producers.  Again,  when  a  clearly  defined  and 
equitable  system  is  adopted  for  the  reduction,  and  for 
the  final  and  the  entire  abolition  of  import  duties,  a  com- 


1 68  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


munity  of  interests  will  be  established  between  the  pro- 
ducers of  protected  and  the  producers  of  non-protected 
commodities,  which  will  enable  and  cause  them  to  co- 
operate to  establish  and  maintain  a  sound  economic  sys- 
tem of  protection  by  decreasi  ng  import  duties. 

A  system  designed  to  place  all  commodities  on  the  free 
list  as  quickly  as  economic  differences  in  cost  of  produc- 
tion can  be  overcome  by  any  economic  process  or  by  a 
combination  of  many  such  processes,  without  regard  to 
the  financial  requirements  of  the  Government;  a  system 
designed  for  protection,  with  incidental  revenue,  based 
upon  the  Governmental  policy  of  securing  all  necessary 
public  revenues  by  direct  taxation ;  a  system  designed  to 
open  the  way  for,  and  to  accomplish  the  final  and  the 
entire  abolition  of  all  import  duties,  secures  to  each,  the 
protected  and  the  non-protected  producer,  all  that  either 
can  justly  demand,  all  that  either  can  possibly  obtain, 
and  more  than  either  can  maintain  by  any  method  of  fiat 
tariff  legislation  that  can  be  devised  for  revenue  only. 

The  inflences  that  secured  the  passage  of  the  Acts  as- 
sessing import  duties  were : 

i .  Desire  of  politicians  to  gain  and  retain  power  by 
creating  the  impression  that  the  measures  they  advocated 
were  based  upon  sound  economic  requirements  for  the 
protection  of  American  industries  and  of  industrious 


CONCLUSIONS. 


169 


Americans.  The  obtained  result  is  not  a  realization  of 
the  expected  result.  Experience  teaches  that,  for  the 
purpose  of  retaining  a  political  party  in  power,  these  Acts 
are  a  failure. 

2.  The  belief  of  the  uninformed  that  the  enormous  rev- 
enues required  by  the  Government,  cannot  be  obtained  by 
direct  taxation.     No  such  attempt  has  yet  been  made. 
For  this  purpose  these  Acts  furnish  no  evidence. 

3.  The  fears  of  the  well-informed  that  serious  disturb-" 
ances  of  existing  conditions  would  be  caused  by  those 
who,  while  demanding  reduction  of  import  duties,  illogi- 
cally  disclaim  the  equity  of  the  principle  of  protection, 
and  present  no  proposal  for  effecting  fhe  reductions  they 
demand,  that  is  not  open  to  all  objections  of  the  fiat  pro- 
tection they  antagonize.     There  is  not,  in  enacted  tariff 
legislation,  nor  in  any  proposal  prominently  advocated 
for  its  revision,  any  provision  for  a  definite  and  continu- 
ous diminution  of  the  protection  granted,  whereby  a  com- 
modity can  be  transferred  from  the  list  of  protected, 
to  the  list  of  non-protected  products,  without  creating  a 
disturbance  of  industrial  conditions.     £0  far  as  the  ulti- 
mate object  of  establishing  American  industries  on  a 
basis  absolutely  independent  of  a  protective  tariff,  is  con- 
cerned, the  obtained  result  of  this  legislation  is  not  a  re- 
alization of  the  expected  result.    Experience  teaches  that, 


170 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


for  the  avowed  purpose  of  fiat  protection,  to  so  establish 
industries  as  to  render  them  independent  of  protection,  the 
Acts  assessing  import  duties  are  a  failure. 

4.  Mercenary  desire  of  the  beneficiaries  of  the  corrup- 
tion engendered  by  the  surplus,  and  by  the  enormous 
revenues  obtained  from  excessive  import  duties,  to  con- 
tinue to  thrive  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  people.  The 
obtained  result  in  this  respect  is  a  realization  of  the  ex- 
pected result.  For  this  purpose  the  Acts  assessing  im- 
port duties  are  a  success. 

These  statements  clearly  show  it  to  be  the  patriotic 
duty  of  all  representatives  who  wish  to  rank  as  states- 
men, to  vote  for  the  revision  of  all  legislation  assessing 
import  duties,  on  the  basis  of  adjusting  economic  differ- 
ences in  the  cost  of  production  between  this  and  other 
countries,  and  of  creating  a  system  providing  for  an  equit- 
able diminution  of,  and  the  final  abolition  of  all  import 
duties. 

In  doing  this,  they  will  record  the  fact  that,  having 
learned  through  bitter  experience  that  proetction  by  fiat 
legislation  is  not  well  designed  to  accomplish  the  object 
intended,  and,  incidentally,  that  revenues  obtained  by 
indirect  taxation  are  not  expended  solely  with  the  view 
of  securing  the  best  possible  results  for  the  whole  people, 
as  they  are  more  likely  to  be  when  obtained  by  direct 


CONCLUSIONS. 


171 


taxation,  the  revision  of  such  legislation  was  demanded 
and  was  accomplished  by  a  patriotic  combination  of: 

1.  Well  informed  domestic  producers  of  protected  com- 
modities;  proprietors,  their  employees,   and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  manufacturing  constituencies,  who  honestly 
desire  so  to  establish  their  industries  in  the  shortest  pos  - 
sible  time,  that  they  may  be  maintained  on  the  basis  of 
absolute  free  trade. 

2.  Well  informed  domestic  producers  of  non-protected 
commodities ;  proprietors,  their  employees,  and  the  rep- 
resentatives of   agricultural  constituences,   who   intelli- 
gently agree  to  protect  the  domestic  manufacturer  of 
specified  commodities,  at  a  specified  rate  of  import  duty, 
the  rate  to  be  abolished  by  means  of  a  continuous  dimi- 
nution, year  by  year,  until  it  disappears,  in  order  that 
those  employed  in  such  manufactures,  may  be  domestic 
consumers  of  non-protected  domestic  products. 

This  demand  will  be  opposed  by: 

1.  Well  informed  and  mercenarily  interested  manufac- 
turers who  wish  to  profit  by  a  degree  of  protection  that 
is  unnecessary,  and  by  those  who  fear  to  be  forced  into 
free  competition  with  the  industrial  world,  by  the  achieve- 
ments of  abler  men. 

2.  Uninformed  producers  of  non-protected  commodi- 
ties, who  are  impatient  with  the  steadily  developing  home 


172  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 

market,  and  who  unwisely  believe  that  their  condition 
will  be  improved  by  the  immediate  adoption  of  free  trade ; 
placing  their  own  supposed  advantage  above  the  advan- 
tage of  the  whole  people,  to  be  secured  by  the  system 
proposed. 

3.  Mercenarily  interested  beneficiaries  of  the  corrupt 
expenditures  now  being  made. 

4.  Uninformed  and  mercenary  tax  dodgers,  who  think 
they  pay  no  taxes  when  the  revenues  are  obtained  by  in- 
direct taxation ;  and  those  who  think  they  pay  less  than 
their  equitable  portion  of  the  expenses  of  the  Govern- 
ment when  revenues  are  obtained  by  indirect  taxation 
and  who  wish  to  avoid  the  payment  of  their  equitable 
portion  as  it  would  be  assessed  to  them  by  a  just  system 
of  direct  taxation. 

Fourth :  Revision  of  Pension  Legislation. 

Pension  legislation  has  been  enacted  without  regard 
to  the  justice  of  the  claims  that  might  be  made  under  its 
authority,  considered  as  an  adjustment  of  the  economic 
differences  existing  between  those  who  did  not  perform 
military  duty  during  the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the 
"Union,  or,  considered  as  an  adjustment  of  the  differences 
in  compensation,  bounties  included,  received  by  those 
who  did  perform  such  service.  And  further,  it  has  been 
enacted  without  regard  to  its  effect  upon  the  honor  of  men 


CONCLUSIONS.  173 


entitled  to  honor,  without  regard  to  its  effect  upon  the 
morality,  thrift,  and  economic  conceptions  of  justice  by 
the  beneficiaries,  or  of  its  effect  upon  the  well  being  of 
the  whole  people. 

The  influencies  that  secured  the  passage  of  the  Pension 
Acts  were : 

1.  Desire  of  those  favoring  fiat  protection  to  distribute 
the  surplus  and  create  enormous  expenses,  so  as  to  make 
high  import  duties  necessary ;  so  that  import  duties  as- 
sessed for  fiat  protection,  and  import  duties  assessed  for 
revenue  only,  will  necessarily  be  the  same.      The  ob- 
tained result  is  a  realization  of  the  expected  result.     Ex- 
perience teaches  that,  for  this  purpose  the  Pension  Acts 
are  a  success. 

2.  Desire  of  national  bank  men  to  arrest  the  payment 
of  the  national  debt  so  as  to  perpetuate  the  national 
banking  system.     The  obtained  result  is  a  realization  of 
the  expected  result.      Experience  teaches  that  for  this 
purpose  the  Pension  Acts  are  a  success. 

3.  Desire  of  politicians  to  gain  and  retain  power  on  the 
plea  of  being  the  friends  of  the  old  soldiers.     The  ob- 
tained result  is  not  a  realization  of  the  expected  result. 
Experience  teaches  that   for  this  purpose  the  Pension 
Acts  are  a  failure. 

4.  Desire  of  mercenary  ex-soldiers  and  sailors  to  bene- 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


fit  by  the  corrupt  and  unjust  distribution  of  the  people's 
money  so  authorized,  taking  undue  advantage  of  the 
people's  generosity  to  the  defenders  of  their  Govern- 
ment. The  obtained  result  is  a  realization  of  the  ex- 
pected result.  Experience  teaches  that  for  this  purpose 
the  Pension  Acts  are  a  success. 

These  statements  clearly  show  it  to  be  the  patriotic 
duty  of  all  representatives  who  wish  to  rank  as  states- 
men, to  vote  for  the  revision  of  pension  legislation  on 
the  basis  of  doing  justice  to  all  ex-soldiers  and  sailors, 
and  of  being  just  to  those  who  pay  their  claims,  to  the 
end  that  the  honor  of  all  men  of  good  record  who  loyally 
served  their  country  may  forever  stand  untarnished  by  a 
mercenary  stain,  and  that  every  deserving  ex-soldier 
and  sailor  who  is  in  need  may  be  fully  provided  for,  and 
the  cause  of  morality,  honesty,  virtue  and  thrift  may  be 
promoted  among  the  people. 

In  doing  this  they  will  record  the  fact  that,  having 
learned  through  bitter  experience  that  pension  claims 
will  be  made  by  the  mercenary,  the  corrupt  and  the  un- 
informed in  every  form  for  which  the  law  or  its  adminis- 
tration may  afford  a  pretext,  without  regard  to  the  rights 
of  those  who  are  compelled  to  pay  the  claims,  to  the 
interests  of  the  whole  people,  or  the  inherent  justice  of 
claim,  the  revision  of  such  legislation  was  demanded  and 
was  accomplished  by  a  patriotic  combination  of  : 


CONCLUSIONS. 


175 


1.  Well  informed  admirers  of  the  men  who  loyally  re- 
sponded to  their  country's  call,  without  waiting  to  stipu- 
late for  bounties  or  other  mercenary  consideration,  and 
pledged    for   the   defense   of    the   Government,    ' '  their 
lives,  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred  honor." 

2.  Well  informed  observers  of  the  course  of  events  who 
clearly  see  the  necessity  of  separating  the  deserving  from 
association  with  the  undeserving,  in  order  that  the  truly 
loyal  and  patriotic  men  of  1861-65,  who  defended  the 
Government,  may  not  be  degraded  by  being  classed  with 
the  corrupt  and  mercenary  by  future  historians,  who  will 
not  be  as  able  to  distinguish  between  the  two  classes  as 
are  those  now  living,  and  who  will  be  absolutely  unable 
to  do  so,  if  the  names  of  both  the  deserving  and  of  the 
undeserving  are  continued  upon  the  pension  rolls. 

3.  Well  informed  comrades  who  demand  that  the  de- 
serving shall  be  paid  all  that  is  justly  due  to  them,  and 
that  the  undeserving  shall  receive  nothing. 

This  demand  will  be  opposed  by : 

1.  Uninformed  persons  who  are  unable  to  form  a  judi- 
cial opinion  as  to  what  constitutes  a  just  basis  for  a  pen- 
sion claim. 

2.  Mercenarily  interested  politicians  who  think  they 
can  still  gain  political  capital  by  pandering  to  the  preju- 
dices of  the  ignorant  and  unthinking,  and  to  the  greed 
of  the  dishonest  and  corrupt. 


I76 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


3.  Mercenarily  interested  beneficiaries  who,  through 
ignorance,  dishonesty  and  greed,  are  willing  to  profit  by 
the  misdirected  gratitude  of  a  generous  people,  and  who 
are  willing  to  enjoy  honors  and  benefits  to  which  they 
have  no  right,  because  they  have  not  honestly  earned 
them. 

Fifth:  Revision  of  Civil  Service  Legislation. 

Civil  Service  legislation  has  been  placed  upon  the  Stat- 
ute Books  as  the  result  of  virtuous  party  promises  insin- 
cerely made.  No  Civil  Service  measure  has  been  de- 
signed and  enacted  which  exhaustively  provides  the  best 
system  of  Civil  Service  administration  that  can  be  de- 
vised, nor  have  the  enacted  provisions  of  the  law  as  it . 
now  stands  ever  been  honestly  and  completely  enforced 
by  either  or  any  party. 

The  influences  that  secured  the  passage  of  Civil  Serv- 
ice Acts  were : 

i.  Desire  to  work  upon  those  in  public  employment 
who  feared  that,  if  a  change  of  administration  occurred, 
they  would  lose  their  positions,  and,  to  insure  them  that 
if  it  did  not  occur  they  would  not.  A  direct  bribe  for  the 
votes  of  Government  employees.  The  obtained  result  is 
not  a  realization  of  the  expected  result.  Experience 
*  teaches  that,  for  this  purpose.  Civil  Service  legislation  is 
not  a  success. 


CONCLUSIONS. 


177 


2.  Desire  to  assure  those  in  public  employment  that 
the  advent  of  an  opposition  party  to  power  would  not  be 
a  signal  for   undeserved  discharges.    '  The   obtained 
result  is  not  a  realization  of  the  expected  result.     Expe- 
rience teaches  that  for  this  purpose  Civil  Service  legisla- 
tion is  not  a  success. 

3.  Desire  of  all  parties  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of 
having  redeemed  their  electioneering  pledges,  and  still 
to  leave  ample  room  for  the  successful  contestants  to  re- 
ward political  workers  with  a  support  at  the  expense  of 
the  people.     The  obtained  result  is  a  realization  of  the 
expected  result.     Experience  teaches  that  for  this  pur- 
pose Civil  Service  legislation  is  a  success. 

These  statements  clearly  show  it  to  be  the  patriotic  duty 
of  all  representatives  who  wish  to  rank  as  statesmen,  to 
vote  for  the  revision  of  Civil  Service  legislation  on  the 
basis  of  so  providing  for  the  organization  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  Civil  Service  of  the  Government  that  good 
character  and  fitness  for  the  service  to  be  performed, 
shall  be  the  only  influences  of  any  avail  in  securing  ap- 
pointments ;  that  good  character  and  satisfactory  work 
faithfully  done,  shall  be  the  only  influences  of  any  avail 
in  retaining  a  position ;  that  good  character  and  satisfac- 
tory work  ably  and  faithfully  done,  shall  be  the  only  in- 
fluences of  any  avail  in  obtaining  a  promotion,  and  that 


173 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


good  character  and  satisfactory  work,  ably,  faithfully, 
and  continuously  done,  shall  entitle  the  employee  to  con- 
tinuous employment,  and  to  retirement  on  half -pay  for 
life,  at  the  termination  of  a  definitely  stated  term  of  ser- 
vice of  reasonable  duration. 

In  doing  this  they  will  record  the  fact  that,  having 
learned  through  bitter  experience  that  to  secure  honest, 
efficient  and  economic  Civil  Service,  the  people  must 
offer  to  their  employees  those  inducements  which  tend  to 
promote  these  qualities,  the  revision  of  such  legislation 
was  demanded  and  was  accomplished  by  a  patriotic  com- 
bination of: 

1.  Well  informed  students  or  observers  of  human  na- 
ture who  know  the  value  of  offering  the  strongest  in- 
ducements for  the  development  of  good  character,  skill 
and  adaptiveness  for  service  to  be  performed. 

2.  Well  informed  persons  who  desire,  to  divorce,  to  the 
fullest  possible  extent,  all  mercenary  or  ulterior  consid- 
erations from  the  advocacy  of  public  measures. 

3.  Well  informed    employees  who,    having  divorced 
themselves  from  the  avocations  of  civil  life  and  fitted 
themselves  for  the  Government  service  in  which  they  are 
employed,  justly  desire  to  remain  in  undisturbed  posses- 
sion of  their  positions,  so  long  as  they  maintain  good 
characters  and  a  high  record  of  work  well  done. 


CONCLUSIONS. 


179 


This  demand  will  be  opposed  by : 

1.  Uninformed  persons  who  do  not  highly  value  good 
character  and  whose  sense  of  honor  is  so  dull  that  their 
only  standard  of  duty  as  employees  is  to  perform  their 
work  just  well  enough,  and  just  enough  of  it,  to  prevent 
a  discharge. 

2.  Uninformed  and  mercenary  persons  who  think  it 
necessary  to  bribe  citizens  with  the  expectation  of  some 
special  advantage  in  the  distribtition  of  patronage,  in 
order  to  get  them  to  attend  to  the  work  of  a  political 
campaign ;  holding  this  view  in  disregard  for  the  fact  that 
whenever  a  measure  appeals  to  the  heart  and  sense  of 
the  people  as  being  necessary  and  just,  enthusiasm  for  it 
always  runs  high,  and  volunteers  are  plenty  to  work  for 
its  success,  who  are  satisfied  with,  and  expect  no  return 
for  their  efforts,  other  than  their  share  of  the  expected 
public  good. 

3.  Mercenary  and  corrupt  leeches  who  fasten  them- 
selves upon  every  movement  for  what  there  is  in  it  for 
them,  and  who  never  serve  a  cause  on  any  other  terms. 

Patriotic  measures  for  the  well  being  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple will  be  supported  by  the  honest-well-informed,  who 
seek  to  serve  the  people  solely  for  the  public  good.  They 
will  be  opposed  by  the  dishonest- well-informed,  the  hon- 
est-uninformed and  the  mercenary,  who  seek  to  serve 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


their  party  for  individual  selfish  ends,  rather  than  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  people. 

A  government  from  the  people  cannot  be  a  govern- 
ment by  the  people,  unless  the  people  instruct  their  rep- 
resentatives how  they  shall  govern.  Intelligence  is 
gained  through  the  reason,  and  through  experience. 
Those  who  can  gain  intelligence  through  their  reason  do 
not  have  to  lag  in  the  trail  of  experience.  A  person  who 
cannot  gain  intelligence  through  this  reason  is  slow  of 
comprehension.  It  is  said  that  a  person  who  cannot 
gain  intelligence  through  experience  is  a  fool.  The 
American  people  are  not  fools.  If  the  masses  have  been 
slow  in  acquiring  economic  intelligence  through  reason, 
they  have  acquired  it  through  experience  and  are  now 
moved  by  an  irresistible  desire  to  apply  their  intelligence 
to  practical  measures.  The  correct  and  effective  way  to 
do  this  is  for  each  person  who  approves  of: 

1.  The  Repeal  of  the  Silver  Purchase  Act; 

2.  The  Repeal  of  the  National  tax  on  State  Bank  Cur- 
rency; 

3.  The  Revision  of  Tariff  Legislation  ; 

4.  The  Revision  of  Pension  Legislation  ;  and 

5.  The  Revision  of  Civil  Service  Legislation. 

To  form  the  best  conception  he  can  within  his  own 
mind,  to  clearly  determine  in  what  particulars  the  laws 


CONCLUSIONS.  181 


as  they  now  stand  and  are  administered  fail,  and  what 
changes  in  the  laws,  when  made,  will  not  fail  to  induce 
the  greatest  degree  of  prosperity  for  the  whole  people. 
Having  settled  these  points  to  his  entire  satisfaction,  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  important  personal  and  patriotic  in- 
terest to  himself  to  impress  his  views  upon  others,  and 
especially  upon  his  representatives  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Congress,  through  whose  votes  his  views  may 
be  formulated  into  laws.  If,  in  his  attempt  to  formulate 
his  views,  he  finds  that  others,  who  have  thought  out  and 
written  upon  the  subjects,  have  expressed  opinions  which 
he  can  adopt,  he  can  save  himself  much  work  and  bring 
himself  into  co-operation  with  others,  by  endorsing  the 
views  as  published,  and  urging  their  adoption  upon  his 
representatives.  It  is  not  good  economy  to  spend  time 
in  trying  to  invent  a  thing  that  can  be  found  ready 
made.  In  this  way,  by  making  their  views  known  to, 
and  urging  their  adoption  upon  their  representatives, 
the  people  can  govern  and  a  government  by  the  people 
can  be  realized  and  maintained.  Under  such  pressure, 
representatives  will  quickly  learn  that  it  is  no  part  of 
their  business  to  manipulate  legislation  in  the  interests 
of  party  only.  The  people  have  no  further  need  of  parti- 
sans. The  supreme  demand  is  for  statesmen ;  men  in- 
telligent enough,  broad  enough  and  strong  enough  to  be 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


true  friends  of  the  people,  and  to  lead  them  step  by  step 
in  the  direction  of  prosperity  for  the  whole  people. 
When  the  masses  are  sufficiently  instructed  to  see  their 
own  interests  clearly,  no  representative  will  seek  a  fol- 
lowing by  announcing  himself  as  a  partisan.  The 
masses  will  rally  around  those  who  speak  and  act  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  people. 

There  is  one  other  point  that  should  be  strongly  im- 
pressed upon  the  attention  of  the  most  blamable.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  well  informed.  Much  is  being  said  just 
now  about  the  great  object  lesson  furnished  by  the  finan- 
cial disasters  that  are  being  caused  by  the  uncertainty 
which  overshadows  the  monetary  and  industrial  systems 
of  the  country  and  the  course  of  legislation  on  the  great 
questions  of  the  day.  Much  wisdom  on  these  questions 
is  now  being  shown  in  quarters  where  its  existence  has 
not  been  before  suspected.  This  fact  leads  to  one  of 
two  conclusions  ;  that  the  wisdom  has  been  gaine'd  from 
the  object  lesson,  or,  that  those  who  possess  it  are  blam- 
able for  the  evils  from  which  the  country  is  suffering  be- 
cause they  did  not  make  their  wisdom  known  before. 

The  energy  of  the  American  people  is  as  powerful  and 
as  ceaseless  as  the  ever-rolling  waves  of  the  Ocean.  If 
the  well  informed  do  not  teach  the  uninformed  through 
their  reason,  then  the  masses  will  surge  on  and  on,  as 


CONCLUSIONS. 


183 


they  gain  intelligence  through  experience.  It  is  well 
enough  for  manufacturers,  merchants,  bankers,  directors 
of  great  corporations,  and  representative  financiers,  to 
point  out  to  farmers  and  laborers  the  enormous  losses  that 
are  being  caused  by  the  unwise  legislation  that  has  been 
supported  by  their  votes.  But  it  will  be  more  profitable 
for  them,  and  far  better  for  the  people  if  they  will  seri- 
ously ask  themselves  if  they  have  not  shown  an  equal 
stupidity,  by  selecting  experience  as  a  teacher  for  the 
masses  and  employing  politicians  as  instructors,  instead 
of  themselves  supplying  the  instruction  through  reason. 
The  American  people  are  not  fools,  nor  are  they  dull. 
This  assertion  may  be  thought  by  some  to  be  disproven, 
however,  by  the  exhibit  *  showing  that  a  small  section 
of,  the  ablest  business  men  in  this  country  have  paid 
$7,000,000,000  since  January,  1893,  for  the  education  of 
the  people  through  Experience,  with  politicians  for  in- 
structors, when  a  tithe  of  that  enormous  amount,  prop- 
erly used,  would  have  given  the  people  'a  better  educa- 
tion through  reason,  than  they  will  receive  from  this 
costly  object  lesson,  and  would  have  made  .this  catas- 
trophe impossible. 

The  study  of  the  past  is  profitable  only  in  so  far  as  it 

*  New  York  Herald,  June  12,  1893. 


184  PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


serves  to  light  the  true  course  for  future  progress.  One 
thing  is  certain,  uncertainty  must  cease.  The  intelli- 
gence the  people  have,  whether  acquired  through  rea- 
son or  through  experience,  must  be  concentrated  on  the 
task  of  rescuing  the  industries  and  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try from  the  evils  now  existing,  and  the  perils  that  threat 
en,  none  of  which  have  any  fundamental  cause  except  in 
unwise  legislation.  This  legislation  must  be  changed. 
This  change  must  be  drastic  enough  to  purge  from  the 
statute  books  every  unsound  economic  measure. 

This  change  has  a  far  deeper  significance  than  has  yet 
been  brought  to  notice.  It  means  the  birth  of  a  new  era. 

The  disturbances  now  being  suffered  are  at  once  death 
and  birth  struggles. 

From  this  day  backward  into  the  past,  the  influences 
that  caused  the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union, 
and  the  influences  that  are  the  direct  outgrowth  of  that 
war,  that  have  given  form  and  direction  to  all  of  the 
unwise  legislation  from  which  the  country  is  now  suffer- 
ing, must  be  discarded  and  rendered  impotent.  They 
are  history.  From  this  day  forward  into  the  future,  the 
influences  that  shall  cement  the  *people  into  one  Nation, 
the  influences  that  shall  give  form  and  direction  to  wise 
legislation  which  shall  induce  the  greatest  degree  of  pros- 
perity for  the  whole  country,  must  be  the  potent  influ- 


CONCLUSIONS.  185 


ences,  which  are  the  direct  outgrowth  of  peace.  They 
are  a  prophecy.  We  have  had  our  trial  of  strength  and 
conquered  the  victories  of  war.  We  now  come  to  the 
trial  of  our  intelligence  and  must  prove  our  ability  to 
conquer  the  victories  of  peace.  This  crisis  is  the  death- 
struggle  of  war  legislation.  It  is  the  birth  struggle  of 
peace  legislation.  War  legislation  was  for  a  divided 
people.  Peace  legislation  must  be  for  a  united  people. 
War  legislation  was  for  section  against  section.  Peace 
legislation  must  be  for  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  peo-  • 
pie.  War  legislation  asserted  and  centralized  the  supreme 
and  overmastering  power  of  the  National  Government. 
Peace  legislation  must  define  and  develope  the  co-pera- 
tive  powers  of  the  States. 

With  one  flag  known  to  all  the  world ;  with  a  monetary 
standard  of  values  on  a  parity  with  the  most  stable  values 
of  the  world ;  with  one  money  metal,  current  in  every 
financial  institution  in  the  world ;  with  prices  for  internal 
commerce  on  a  parity  with  prices  for  international  com- 
merce ;  with  absolute  freedom  for  all  internal  commerce 
and  a  fixed  purpose  to  conquer  absolute  freedom  for  all 
international  commerce ;  with  hearts  quick  to  respond  to 
every  cry  of  distress ;  with  ears  willing  to  listen  to  every 
plea  for  freedom ;  with  eyes  keen  to  detect  every  act  of 
oppression ;  with  helping  hands  in  touch  with  the  honest 


PROSPERITY  AND  POLITICS. 


laborer,  this  nation  must  break  from  its  moorings  to  a  dead 
though  glorious  past,  and  move  on  to  a  new  era  of  peace 
and  prosperity.  For  this  change  the  ship  of  state  is 
manned  by  the  Fifty-Third  Congress.  No  other  Con- 
gress has  ever  been  honored  wi£h  an  opportunity  bear- 
ing any  similarity  in  true  significance  to  that  which  now 
presents  itself  to  a  crew  of  the  ship  of  state  to  cast  off, 
and  show  its  ability  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  Nation 
to  a  haven  of  peace  and  plenty.  The  hawsers  that  must 
be  unshipped  before  a  clearance  can  be  made  for  the 
voyage  are  the  Silver  Purchase  Act,  the  National  Tax  on 
State  Bank  currency,  the  Tariff  Legislation,  the  Pension 
Legislation,  and  the  Civil  Service  Legislation.  From 
the  bondage  of  the  unwise  legislation  of  the  past  the  ship 
of  state  must  be  made  free  or  it  cannot  sail  to  the  port 
of  peace  and  plenty  for  which  it  should  clear. 

The  intelligence  the  people  have,  whether  acquired 
through  reason  or  through  experience,  must  be  devoted 
to  the  task  of  reforming  legislation  in  particulars  and  as 
indicated.  Will  the  people  instruct  their  representa- 
tives, or  will  their  representatives  instruct  the  people? 
Which  ever  way  it  is  done,  one  thing  is  certain,  if  the 
country  is  to  be  relieved  from  this  nightmare  of  uncer- 
tainty, the  Silver  Purchase  Act  must  be  unconditionally 
repealed  ;  the  Act  Taxing  State  Bank  Currency  must  be 


CONCLUSIONS. 


187 


unconditionally  repealed ;  Tariff  Legislation  must  be  re 
vised  by  the  adoption  of  a  continuously  diminishing  rate 
of  importing  duty  for  each  commodity  with  the  avowed 
object  of  abolishing  all  import  duties  in  the  shortest 
time,  consistent  with  economic  conditions  in  foreign 
countries ;  Pension  Legislation  must  be  revised  in  con- 
formity with  the  requirements  of  economic  justice,  and 
Civil  Service  Legislation  must  be  revised  in  conformity 
with  the  declarations  of  this  Republic  of  Freedom,  that 
labor  is  honorable  and  that  honest  laborers  are  worthy 
of,  and  should  receive,  a  just  reward. 

This  is  a  Programme  of  Progress  for  the  Fifty- 
Third  Congress. 

Patriotic  measures  for  the  good  of  the  whole  people 
will  be  supported  by  the  honest-well-informed  and  will 
be  opposed  by  the  dishonest-well-informed,  the  honest- 
uninformed  and  the  mercenary. 

The  successes  of  the  uninformed,  of  the  corrupt  and 
of  the  mercenary,  are  always  interpreted  as  defeats  by 
those  who  write  history. 

Representatives  must  act  in  accordance  with  the  dic- 
tates of  their  own  judgment.  It  is  for  them  to  say 
whether,  in  history,  they  shall  rank  as  politicians  or  as 
statesmen. 


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